Persona 6: Original Flavor
by Tricksterverse
Summary: *Basically what I'd do if I wrote P6* In 2014, Kazuto felt his whole world had ended. Five years had passed since then, and now he was transferring to Nayamu High School in Misato. He'd been excited by the new possibilities, but if he'd known that meant other worlds, dangerous criminals and Velvet Rooms... he might've chosen to stay home.
1. Thou Chooseth This Fate Of Thy Own Will

**Persona 6: Original Flavour Chapter 1: Thou Chooseth This Fate Of Thy Own Will**

He clutched the blanket that was draped upon his shoulders fruitlessly. It was cold.

He wasn't sure why that bothered him so much, but it did. He realized that he should be thinking about a lot of other, more important things, but his brain can't seem to comprehend anything aside from the wind blowing past his face and the cool chill of the blanket.

Men and woman in white clothing scramble about in front of him. He wonders, idoly, what's going to happen to him once they let him go. He's only thirteen, so it's unlikely he could live by himself. He doesn't remember meeting any relatives, but he doesn't know if that means he just never met them or if he actually doesn't have any.

_And this blanket is still so cold… couldn't they have gotten me a warmer one?_

His eyes lazily drift away from the scrambling officers, he doesn't want to look at them anymore. Now, he finds himself looking at an ugly coffee table. It's the sixth of november, 2014. He has no idea why he remembers this all of the sudden, but the date now refuses to leave his mind. It's like when Namiko would poke him in the side over and over again in order to get his attention. _That won't be happening anymore_, he notes, and curls in on himself even more.

His eyes scanned the surface of the coffee table, looking for something appealing on it's ugly surface. Weirdly enough, there was a notepad and pen resting on the surface, undisturbed. _Take it._ The thought seizes him like a bolt of lightning. Fire explodes through his veins like a pot that's boiling over, and he suddenly finds that he is able to not only move, but move with purpose.

His hand snatches the notebook and pen off the table. Of course, now that he holds them he reaches the inevitable question of what he's even supposed to do with it. _People are going to forget about this,_ he suddenly realizes. _They are going to mourn for a while, talk about how it's a tragedy, and then forget about it as if all the dead and injured were only worth a moment of their time_. His train of thought is morbid, and cynical, but even at his young age he realizes that it's the truth.

_That's… wrong_.

He begins to write.

**.**

Five years later, it was 2019, and Kazuto was riding a train to Misato.

Misato was a relatively unremarkable town in the Saitama prefecture. It was placed he couldn't really imagine traveling to, let only living in for a year. Yet, here he was, and he was actually pretty happy to be going there.

Five years ago he put the pen to that notepad and started to write. Kazuto never imagined it would've gotten him any attention, let alone the kind of attention that would get him sponsored to attend high school. Nayamu High had decided he was worth the effort, apparently, and extended him the offer. Kazuto had gladly taken it. He was eighteen now and the idea of trying to enter the workforce without a proper education was more than a little intimidating. He had spent the last two years outside of school and was now only coming back for his last year of high school.

He imagined there was some sort of irony there, but Kazuto was too excited at the prospect of going back to school that he couldn't really bring himself to care. Not long after, the train finally pulled into his stop and he departed. The school administrators had been kind enough to offer him directions to the dorm where he would be staying, and Kazuto pulled them out of his pocket now so he could begin his journey there.

Night had fallen by the time he made it to the dorm. He was a bit disappointed to find the route he had taken hadn't lead him by the school, but he was going to get a look at it tomorrow anyway so it wasn't too big a loss. The boys dorm itself was a rather large but fairly unimpressive building that was the shape of a rectangle. It looked to be about six floors talls-he imagined that was so the school could accommodate the population of male students-and maybe fifteen feet wide. Seeing as it was already dark and he wanted to be getting to bed soon, Kazuto opened the door and stepped inside.

Surprisingly, there was someone else already in the lobby when he entered. Well, he supposed it shouldn't be that surprising since it was only six thirty, but that wasn't what had him confused. Standing in the center of the lobby was a tall woman with dark skin and black hair cut rather short. A dark blue ribbon was nestled in the left side of her hair and a large book was eld in the crook of her elbow. She wore a bizarre get up the same shade as her ribbon comprised of a waistcoat, a white undershirt, a pair of slacks and some elevator shoes.

Her gaze snapped to him the second he entered the dorm. "Um, hi there? I'm looking for my room…" he greeted awkwardly. The girls gaze was intense, and he wasn't sure he particularly liked it.

She strode forward, and before Kazuto could even ask what was going on she was in his personal space. "Hey, I'm gonna need you to sign this contract," she explains, and Kazuto is surprised by just how loose her voice is. All of the sudden a clipboard with a piece of paper is shoved into his chest. Kazuto looks down at it, and true to her words it's an ornate looking contract with a line at the bottom for his name. He looks up from the contract to the girl. She doesn't look to much older than him, and he was lead to believe this contract thing was something everyone in the dorm had to do.

With a small shrug Kazuto took the clipboard from her. "Oh, um… do you have something I could use to sign this?" he asked. The girl produced a pen from her breast pocket, and Kazuto took it with a mumbled thanks. With the pen in hand, he was quick to sign his name at the bottom.

_Kazuto Okubyomono_

He handed the contract back to the strangely dressed girl and she shoved it back… wherever it had been previously. After that she nodded once to him. "My master and I should see you again soon," she told him before turning on her heel and walking away.

She disappeared down a hallway and Kazuto made to follow after her. "Hey, wait a minute-!" he cut himself off when he looked down the hallway and saw it empty. _Okay… that was weird_. He walked a portion of the hallway and looked around a couple times before he finally concluded that the girl-whoever she was-had completely disappeared. Kazuto considered that he ought to be more concerned about that, but he was so tired that it was hard to think about anything other than sleep.

It took him a bit, but eventually he was able to figure which room was his by checking the itinerary resting on the front desk. It was room 321 on the third floor. After the valiant struggle to get his suitcase to the third floor, he entered his room and collapsed on the bed. He knew he should probably unpack, but this bed was _way _too comfortable and he was exhausted.

Soon enough, he was totally unconscious.

**.**

"Settle down class! I know it's your first day back but I need you to focus!" the teacher gripped. Kazuto winced slightly at the volume of her voice but otherwise remained silent. "We have a new transfer student joining us today," she announced, turning to him. "If you would…" she lead off, gesturing to the class.

Kazuto nodded and stepped forward, a bright smile on his face. "Hello there. My name is Kazuto Okubyomono, I hope we all get along together!" he greeted cheerfully. The class was so quiet he could hear a pin drop. Everyone present seemed to be processing my introduction, as if they weren't sure how to respond.

"Soooo… are you a dude or a chick?" someone finally managed to bark out. It was an offending question to most people, but Kazuto had been asked it so many times it didn't really bother him. His appearance was a mess of contradictions that looked like someone just couldn't decide between either gender and eventually throwing their arms in the are and proclaiming 'why not both?!'. His remarkably skinny and svelte frame, not to mention the flowing blonde hair all pointed toward the female preference. The defined stubble which made out the beginnings of a goatee and male school uniform he was wearing, on the other hand, stood to render that point moot.

Kazuto turned to him and placed a hand on his hip. "I can assure you that I'm a guy," he told him. There was another pungent silence at his assurances.

"...You look like a freak!" another student exclaimed, and almost the entire class laughed. Kazuto snorted but didn't otherwise respond. Soon after that he was given a seat near the center of the room and class continued on as normal. It was long after that he was informed that his homeroom teacher-Mrs. Motoki-was also the history teacher. It didn't look like they were going to be learning much that day, however, as she informed Kazuto there was going to be an assembly that morning held in the gym. From what he understood it was more an orientation than anything, but that was fine with him because he wasn't sure he would be able to concentrate on taking notes anyway.

It was weird to think that it was already his third and final year of high school. He wasn't about to say 'it felt like it went by too fast' because that wasn't exactly true. Every day since that night had felt like a trial. He'd been provided for, of course, but it'd been a battle to drag himself out of bed every morning. Hopefully, at this new school where he was away from the reminders of his past, he could find some peace. His musings were pushed to the side as he stepped into the gym and was told where to sit. His class was all grouped into one area-obviously-and he ended up between a girl and a boy.

Not long after that the principal walked up toward the stage. He was a well built man with greying hair and a hard-set face. He took his place at the center of the stage and started speaking into the microphone. "Greetings students, as I'm sure a good majority of you know I'm Mr. Serizawa, your principal. I'm sure many of those same students also see this as something of a waste of time, but allow me to inform you that it is not. As a student of Nayamu high, it is important for you to be reminded of the expectations placed upon by myself and the rest of your administrators…"

Mr. Serizawa went on like that, talking about the values the school wanted to place in its students and other such things. Kazuto did his best to pay attention, but ended up fidgeting around every few seconds in discomfort. He was rather tall for someone his age-standing at a respectable 5'10-and it felt like the school uniform was a size or two small for him. The uniform itself was rather standard affair. It was early April, so they were stuck wearing the dull green blazers correspondent of the fall uniform. Underneath the blazer was a white button up shirt and dull green tie, though he had added the ladder himself for some individuality. Green slacks the same color as his blazer lead into brown loafers, another addition of his own. He wore the jacket closed with his tie hanging outside of it, and the emblem for Nayamu high was fashioned over his left breast.

Overall, he thought it looked rather nice on him. Kazuto had a bit of trouble gathering the cash for the uniforms of other schools he had gone too, so it was an almost refreshing feeling to get one so affordable. "Man, I don't know who the principal thinks he's foolin'. Nobody's actually listening to this crap!" the student sitting next to Kazuto complained loudly. He turned his head to them and narrowed his eyes. _That was a pretty rude thing to say_.

The person sitting next to him chuckled softly. "I know, right! Serizawa is such a blow hard. He should get by now no one here actually cares about that BS."

Kazuto cleared his throat and tapped the guy on the shoulder. "You know, it's pretty disrespectful to talk like that when the principal is. He's just trying his best to set an example for the students, the least you could do is quiet down while he's talking," he reprimanded.

The two guys gave him a remarkably flat look. "Um, what? Look around dude, nobody-" he's cut off when somebody places a hand on both his and Kazuto's shoulders.

"If the lot of you don't stop talking now I won't hesitate to send you down to Mr. Serizawa's office myself when this is over." The other boy gulps and stammers out an apology, and Kazuto is quick to follow him with honest words of regret. After that, he settles down and focus' back on the lecture. Mr. Serizawa continued on for a while before finishing his speech by telling everyone to have a great year. When Kazuto and the rest of his class make to leave the rude guy pushes past him and almost knocks him to the ground. Kazuto lets out a huff of annoyance and readjusts his uniform before following his class outside.

The assembly had taken up all of second period, so Kazuto took a look at his schedule to see what his next class was. Classic lit with Mr. Kensaku, it seemed. That was nice, he was actually real good at this class. He sat down in his homeroom-Class 4-C-and lazily looked over the class. There weren't many especially noticeable students, but he did recognize the troublemaker from before. For a second he thought he saw another classmate that caught his eye, but the teacher walked in before he could confirm it. To Kazuto's dismay, they weren't having a real lesson that day. Mr. Kensaku was more focused on informing the class what they were gonna be covering and what to expect from the day to day than any actual classwork. He guessed that was to be expected since it was the first day, but it was still a little tedious to have to sit through.

After somehow managing to get through class, Kazuto stepped out for lunch. After making his way to the cafeteria he found a secluded enough table and set himself down. He wasn't normally an antisocial person, but he was still new here and wanted to take things a little slow. He got his lunch and started eating in silence, content to do a little people watching. The food wasn't all too terrible considering it came from the school store, but it was hardly great. Kazuto adjusted his collar slightly and grunted. "I should really see about getting a bigger uniform…" he grumbled.

He turned his attention back to his food before almost immediately shifting it when he saw some commotion. There was a rapidly growing number of students gathering near the center of the cafeteria. It made Kazuto feel uneasy. Those types of gatherings usually only happened whenever showing was trying to show off… or for a fight. He sighed and stood up, determined to see what it was all about. _I told myself I wasn't gonna go looking for trouble, but it seems to have a habit of forming around me,_ he lamented as he wormed his way through the crowd.

Sure enough-in the middle of the lunchroom no less-were a couple of boys who looked to be a second away from taking a swing at each other. To Kazuto's shock, the rest of the student body seemed to be _encouraging_ them. This is ridiculous! Don't they realize someone could get hurt! He took another quick look around. Unfortunately, it looked like everyone was content to let this continue. Kazuto groaned and face-palmed. _Looks like I can't avoid it this time_.

Before either of the boys could instigate, Kazuto stepped out and placed himself between them. "Hold on a second, you two, nobody needs to get hurt here." It seemed like a good enough opener in his head, but it looked to only make the boys more aggravated.

"Yo, who the hell does this guy think he is?!"

"Just get out of the way, man. This doesn't concern you,"

Kazuto didn't. He wasn't about to stand by and watch somebody get hurt.

"Just stop and think about this for a second. You have nothing to gain from starting a fight right now. You're in the _middle of the cafeteria_, and there are a ton of witnesses. The only thing you'll achieve by fighting right now is a week out of school and an accompanying set of bruises," he criticised, hoping his logic would get through to them. Thankfully, it looked like it did, at least for one of them. He looked at the crowd gathered around them-many of whom had gone silent after Kazuto stepped out-and then turned back to the other boy.

He was silent for a few seconds, then he 'tsked' and turned away. "Man, forget this. You ain't worth the trouble," he called back as he walked away. Kazuto heaved out a sigh of relief and smiled, but that quickly faded when he looked back to the other student. He was _seething_ with rage, and it looked like he was holding back a snarl.

"Hey! Where do you think you're going?! I'm not finished with you!" he screeched and charged forward. Kazuto brought his hands before him in a calming gesture, ready to intercept and hold him back if needed.

"What is the meaning of this!?" a powerful voice cried out. It was so overpowering it stopped even the charging boy in his tracks. Kazuto looked to the side to see who had spoken, and was a little intimidated to find principal Serizawa.

_This… cannot possibly go well._

**.**

Somehow, it actually did.

Kazuto had been called into the office along with the two other boys, but after explaining his side of the story he was left off with little more than a warning not to intervene like he had again. He imagined it was because he had the _everyone _in the cafeteria to confirm his story, but he still wasn't about to look a gift horse in the mouth.

Still, it was only the first day and already he'd gotten himself caught up in a fight, even if he wasn't one of the participants. His parents would be throwing a fit if they saw him. School was over now-thankfully, since Kazuto felt pretty emotionally worn out after everything-and he was making his way back to the dorm. Weirdly enough, he noticed some of the student shooting him dirty looks. _What's up with that?_ he wondered. Well, now that he was thinking on it that kinda made sense. News of the fight must have travelled by now, and Kazuto knew had rumours tended to bend the truth.

He imagined some of those rumours painted him as one of the fighters, instead of the guy who stopped it. That was annoying, but Kazuto figured once things settled the truth would come out. He stepped out into the courtyard and started making his way toward the gate. Some of the students gazes followed him again, but he was able to ignore it pretty easily and kept walking. A student who had been waiting by the gate caught Kazuto's gaze. The student-a male-seemed to take notice of him as well.

He abruptly kicked off the wall and waltzed over to Kazuto. "Wassup?" he drawled with a friendly grin. Kazuto raised an eyebrow and took in the guys appearance. He had shoulder length grey hair which hung upon his head haphazardly and stood up in places. Similar to Kazuto he had some defined stubble adorning his chin and his eyes were a dull yellow. He wore the blazer of the school uniform open and had the first couple buttons of the shirt underneath undone. Surprisingly, he wore a pair of brown sandals that left his feet exposed.

"Um, hi?" Kazuto greets, unsure what to make of the other boy.

He lets out a loose chuckle and rubs the back of his head apologetically. "Sorry, guess I forgot to introduce myself. I'm Sutona Nonkina, a third year like yourself from class 3-E," Sutona greets.

Kazuto extends a hand good-naturedly and smiles. "Kazuto Okubyomono, it's nice to meet you."

Sutona sports a lazy grin. "Yeah dude, I know who you are. Some of my buddies were talking about you earlier. And I gotta say…" he lead off, his eyes dancing with humour. "They were right. You _are_ pretty hot for a dude."

Kazuto's face flushed with embarrassment. "E-excuse me?! That's a hell of a way to endear yourself to someone!" he sputters out.

Sutona laughs again and pats the air with his hands. "Relax, dude. I was hoping a joke would be a good way to say 'hi'," he explains, and Kazuto does calm down soon after. "I live at the boys dorm, same as you. Wanna walk back together?" he offers with what Kazuto assumes to be his signature lopsided grin.

Kazuto's smile returns. "Sure," he replies, and the two of them start walking home.

Sutona begins a conversation. "I gotta say though, it's pretty surprising how much people are talkin' about you considering you've only been here a day."

"Well… I'm thinking a lot of that has to do with what happened at lunch," Kazuto comments, looking off to the side.

"The fight, right? I heard about that too. It was pretty brave what you did there, man, stopin' those guys and everything. Though I don't think you'll find yourself very popular if you keep going around like that," he advised.

Kazuto looked to him. "What do you mean?"

Sutona fixed him with a skeptical gaze. "Alright, level with me. You're a transfer student, right?" he asks, and Kazuto nods an affirmative. "Okay… how much do you know about Nayamu high?"

Kazuto scrunches his brow in thought. "Well… I know it's a low income school. And that students who graduate have a low college acceptance rate…" he trails off, searching his mind for more information and finding none.

Sutona grimaces. "Okay, so I'm not exactly over exaggerating when I say Nayamu can be a pretty rough place. Like today; did you notice some of the students giving you funky looks after the whole fight business?" Once again Kazuto nodded in the affirmative. Sutona let out a low hum and cupped his chin. "Well… to put it simply. I wouldn't be surprised if people actually resent you for what you did."

Kazuto turns to him, dumbfounded. "What? That doesn't make any sense," he points out.

Sutona shrugs. "I never said it did. I'm just letting you know how things'll probably end up."

Kazuto shakes his head in disbelief. "Getting mad at someone for breaking up a fight… just what kinda place is Nayamu high?"

"The lame kind," Sutona replies. "I don't really understand it much myself, but the way my buddies explained it is like this. People get into scraps like that all the time in Nayamu, and because it happens so frequently it's almost like a source of entertainment for the guys here. So, to them, you're the guy who stole their entertainment," Sutona explains, gesturing all the while.

"That's… stupid."

Sutona turns to him and grins.

"That's Nayamu High."

**.**

Kazuto and Sutona part ways pretty quickly after arriving at the dorm.

Sutona runs off to go see some of his other friends, making Kazuto promise to keep in touch. Kazuto walks in the dorm and makes a request to the school for a larger uniform. After that, he walks up to his room and opens his textbooks, determined to study for the rest of the afternoon. He hasn't had a formal education since junior high, so he knows he'll have to work much harder than the other students to improve his academics.

After what feels like too short a time for him, the sun sets and his room is bathed in darkness. Even after that Kazuto studies for a few more hours. Once ten o'clock starts rolling around he figures he better get some sleep and turns in for the night. As he does, he thinks about everything he's learned today. _This new school life might not be as easy as I thought… _

He fades into unconsciousness.

**.**

A checkered path leading to a bright blue door.

He's in a theater. A movie theater. One that is-weirdly enough-adorned in dark blue velvet. The walls and floors are covered in it, as well as the numerous seats that make up the bizarre theater. Kazuto is sitting in the front row, and finds that when he tries to get up some unseen force prevents him from doing so. Bringing his attention forward, he notices that the large screen that would normally be playing a movie wasn't. Instead, the countdoom that usually played before a film was about to start was playing over and over and over again.

_5_

_4_

_3_

_2_

_1…_

Repeat.

The cycle would start over again every time the counter reached one, completely uninterrupted. That wasn't the only strange thing happening on stage, however. There were two other people up there as well. One-oddly enough-he recognized. It was the girl he had met when he first showed up at the dorms, the one who dressed like a butler. There was another person next to her, one who was sitting behind a large mahogany desk. He wore a nice suit over his stick thin limbs, and his hands were adorned with white gloves. His nose protruded from his face longer than a nose ever should, and his friendly-if slightly intimidating-grin stretched across his entire face.

"Welcome to the Velvet Room my dear young man," he said, his voice high pitched and slightly erratic.

Kazuto stared at him, dumbfounded. "Velvet… Room?" he managed out. The strange man-like thing simply nodded. "Okay… well, where exactly _is_ the Velvet Room?"

"This place exist between dream and reality, mind and matter. Only those who have signed a contract may enter here."

Kazuto only found himself getting more confused by the things 'explanation'. "Contract?"

He nodded enthusiastically. "Of course. Surely you remember; the night when you first came here," he explained. He waved his hand, and suddenly a clipboard was now lying in Kazuto's lap. He looked down at it suspiciously, before his eyes widened in surprise. It was the contract that lady had asked him to sign, the one who was standing beside the weird monster man right now. "You needn't be worried by the contents of the contract," he said, draggin Kazuto's attention away from the girl. "It only asks that you have no regrets during your time with us, and that you claim full responsibility for your actions."

"I… see," Kazuto responds, not quite sure what to say to that.

The things eyes dance in amusement. "I suppose introductions are in order. I am Igor, the master of this Velvet Room. The one standing beside me is Felicia. She is a resident of this place, like myself," Igor explains.

Felicia yawns loudly, and Kazuto winces. _Is This really boring her that much?_ "Yeah. It's cool to meet you or whatever," she drawls.

"Thanks…?" Kazuto says, as if testing out the word. Really though, he has no clue how he's suppose to act around these two.

"You needn't try so hard to wrap your head around things so quickly, young man," Igor intones, as if sensing Kazuto's distress. "This will not be the last time we meet, and you will come to understand this place, and my role, in due time. For now, time marches on in your world, so I will not hold you here any longer. Do not worry, however, you shall see us again soon. Goodbye for now," Igor explains, waving jovially at him. Kazuto returns it, if only to be polite.

Soon after, however, he finds himself unable to keep his eyes open.

**A.N: This is really frustrating to me. I am so mega uber excited for this project but I can't help but feel this first chapter is… clunky. It feels like there's something missing, but I can't for the life of me figure it out. Whatever, maybe I just need to power through and get the groundwork lined out. See you next time!**


	2. Life As A Third Year

**Persona 6 Original Flavour Chapter 2: Life As A Third Year**

Kazuto walks through the front gates of Nayamu High with a big smile on his face.

He doesn't really know what was up with that weird dream he had last night, but it was just a dream so he didn't think about it too much. Igor and Felicia _were_ still swimming around in his mind, though not in the way that most people probably thought. _I feel like those two could make for some cool characters in a story… but what would it even be about? The way they were talking seemed all self-important, it was like that were trying to bestow some otherworldly wisdom onto me._

The train of thought is pushed from his mind when he notices something interesting on the bulletin board in the commons. Like most other schools Kazuto had been too, Nayamu had a neat little board in it's commons that would tell the students about clubs and schools events and everything in between. Kazuto figures taking a look at it will be a good way to keep himself informed about what's going on at Nayamu. Most of the information is bog standard, telling him when exams are and other things, but one particular flyer catches his eye.

_Theatre Club, huh?_

Kazuto hadn't been in any clubs before, but then again none of the other schools he went to had clubs that interested him. Theatre club, however, was something he could see himself doing. He takes a look at the information below to figure out how he can join. Near the bottom it lists that the club will be meeting on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays. Lucky him, then, they were having a meeting today. Kazuto figures it'll be the perfect time to join and makes a mental note to head there after class.

The bell rings not long after, and Kazuto makes his way to his homeroom. Classes start soon after and Kazuto busies himself with work. When he's called on he answers the questions to the best of his abilities, and other than that it's a perfectly average day. Well… it would be if it wasn't for one thing.

He was being watched.

It was around midway through first period when he noticed. It was like some kind of strange six sense, and all of the sudden he was acutely aware someone's eyes were on him. At first, he just tried to ignore, knowing lessons were more important. But as the day continued and the person watching him refused to relent in their assault, he started to get suspicious. Was this what Sutona was talking about yesterday? He wondered. He remembered his newfound friend telling him that some people might resent him for breaking up the fight yesterday, but Kazuto thought he was just over exaggerating.

_Guess not…_

Still, he focused on his classwork, and soon enough the person watching him was nothing more than a nagging feeling at the back of his mind. That didn't mean he forgot about it, however-far from it-and when lunchtime rolled around, he quickly spun in his seat to try and get a glimpse of whoever was watching him so intently.

It was a girl.

For some reason that fact surprised Kazuto, but he ignored it and took a closer look at her. She had wavy black hair that obscured her right eye and wore the Nayamu high uniform more professionally than most of the other people he had seen walking around. Her eyes were a light amber and when Kazuto met her gaze the two of them just stared at each other for a while. Soon enough the girl shifted her attention elsewhere without saying anything, and Kazuto was left even more confused than he was originally. He sighed and made his way out of the classroom and to the cafeteria.

_Can't anything in this school just make sense?_

**.**

When classes ended for the day Kazuto made his way to the drama room, where the theatre club was situated. Kazuto wasn't quite sure if he should just enter or not, so he decided to give the door a knock. "Coming!" a cheerful voice said, and a couple seconds later the door slid open and he was facing someone he almost certain was younger than him. She had bright blue hair which reached down to her back like his, and wore the school uniform with the blazer open and a goofy little bowtie around her neck.

"Hey there! Are you looking to join theatre club?" she asked.

Kazuto smiled warmly at her. "Yes, actually."

The girl returned his smiled and said, "Well that's great! Come on in; we haven't started practicing yet so you have time to sign yourself in and say hi." Kazuto nodded along and followed her inside. The drama room was a fairly spacious area with a stage at the back. Four other kids sat lazily around either on stage or in the comfy looking seats that distantly reminded Kazuto of the Velvet room.

"Is that the entire club?" he asked, somewhat confused.

The girl-now stood off to the side fiddling with a desk-shuffled awkwardly. "Yeah… but I'm more glad we even have a club at all. There aren't a lot of those at Nayamu."

"Really, why?"

She shrugs. "Nobody wants to make them, I guess. Aside from all the sports teams, the only real clubs the school has is this one, a cooking club and some other one I can't remember the name for," she explains.

"That's surprising. I thought clubs were a big thing for school."

"Like I said, not a lot of people here seem to think so," she reiterates. Seeing that there was much else to say, Kazuto dropped the topic. The blue-haired girl walks back over to him with a clipboard in hand. She offers it to him and Kazuto takes it without a second thought. "Anyways, I just need you to fill that out and then you're an official member of the club!" she cheers, having regained some of her initial peppiness.

_Hopefully this one won't give me weird nightmares, _Kazuto thinks. He fills out the form quickly and looks back up to the girl. "I can't believe I forgot to introduce myself. I'm Kazuto Okubyomono; a third year from class 3-C," he tells her, smiling.

She returns it. "It's nice to meet you, Kazuto-senpai. I'm Namba Oriana; a second year from class 2-B," Namba returns. She gestures to the other members in the room. "And that's Mikado, Haruhi, Shinzo and Yamazaki," she informs, gesturing to the other club members. They wave and Kazuto waves back. After he introduces himself properly to the rest of the club, they begin practicing. With Kazuto being a new member and all, the time is mostly spent figuring out his strengths and weaknesses when it came to acting, so they could understand how to best utilize him in the performances.

As they continue performing, however, something begins to bother Kazuto about the club. When the club ends and everyone makes to leave, he decides to ask Namba about it. She was-as it turned out-the clubs president, after all. "Hey Namba-chan, can I ask you about something?"

Namba turns to face him. "Sure, what do you need?"

He looks around him to make sure nobody else is listening in, then he says, "Well… I don't want to sound presumptuous or something, but why is it the rest of the club seems so…" he struggles to find the proper word, and eventually settles on "Unmotivated." It was something he had started to take note of as they all performed. Everyone seemed so lax and apathetic in their acting, giving off the impression they couldn't care less about the club and what they were doing. The notable exception being, of course, Namba herself. It was obvious in the way she performed she had a real passion for acting and theatre and was trying her hardest to express it.

Namba's face falls and she looked around uncomfortably. "I had a feeling you'd ask something like that, Kazuto-Senpai," she says dejectedly, and Kazuto immediately feels like a jackass.

"I-I'm sorry! I didn't mean to offend you or anything, Namba-chan. If it's something you don't want to tell me, that's totally fine," he tells her, and he means what he says. Kazuto tended not to hold it against people when they had secrets they didn't want to tell. After all, he had more than his own fair share of things he held back from people. Not out of malice, but simply because he wasn't prepared to talk about it.

"No, it's fine," Namba interjects, surprising him. She sits down on the edge of the stage and motions for him to do the same. Once Kazuto gets himself situated she continues. "I think I need to vent to someone about this, honestly."

Kazuto tries his best to give a reassuring smile. "Then I'm all ears."

She looks back to him, as if contemplating whether his words are genuine, before deciding they are. "Where to start… I guess the easiest way to put it is that you weren't too far off before. I don't know everyone's story, obviously-I don't think they like me very much-but I do know that they aren't very enthusiastic about the club."

Kazuto raised a brow. "How? I mean you can't know for certain-"

"Actually, I can," Namba interjects, cutting him off. She lets out a long sigh and shifts her gaze to her lap. "When I first started the club and everyone joined, like you I noticed how nobody took it seriously. I didn't mind so much at first, but I guess one day my curiosity got the better of me and I asked Haruhi if she honestly cared about the club. She just said 'not really' and shrugged…" Namba trailed off, and the two sat in silence for a while.

"And once you had that confirmation, it was pretty easy to tell everyone else felt the same way," Kazuto said, finishing what he assumed to be Namba's thought.

"Yeah, pretty much," she affirmed. Silence once again, but then Namba turned to him with what looked like a genuine smile. "But that's why I'm glad you joined, Kazuto-senpai. I know we've only practiced this once, but I can tell you really care about this stuff!" she cheered.

Her enthusiasm brightened Kazuto's mood noticeably. "You're right about that. It basically saved my life, after all…" he lead off. "A-anyway, if you knew Haruhi-chan and the others didn't really care, why didn't you try kicking them out and finding people who did?" he asked, trying to change the topic.

Namba wasn't and idiot, though, and she clearly took notice. Kazuto felt sweat bead his brow under her heavy gaze, but after a moment she relented. "Hmm… well, I guess the best way to put it is that I know they need it, even if they don't care."

Kazuto was confused again. "They need it? What do you mean?"

Namba looked uncomfortable again-and Kazuto was to say she didn't have to answer for the second time-but she spoke before he could. "I did think about kicking them out. In fact, I was totally going too… but then I overheard some people talking about how Mikado-kun's home life isn't exactly the best, and it made me realize something. From what I can tell, Mikado-kun's using the club as a way to keep himself from home. Once I realized that I thought 'are the others the same way?' and I decided it wasn't my place to take that away from them, you know."

She suddenly stood up on the stage and placed her hands on her hips, puffing her chest out like a superhero from a tv show. "That's why I changed my approach. Instead of kicking them out, I'll find a way to make them care about theatre club!" She turned to him with a smile set to split her face in two. "And I want you to help me, okay Kazuto-senpai? The two of us are gonna turn this dinky club into something great. And who knows? Maybe if we work hard enough, we could even go to nationals!"

Kazuto sat there for a while, simply staring in awe at the resolve of this girl he'd just met. Then, eventually, he comes to his senses and stands with her. "Of course. Let's do it," he says with confidence, and infectious smile plastered on his face. Namba giggles, and after a moment Kazuto joins her. Soon enough, the two of them are laughing jovially without a care in this world. And in that moment, completely separated from everything else, Kazuto thinks that this school year is going to be something special. Before too long their laughter dies down, and Namba hops off the stage to gather her leave.

Kazuto plops down a second later and picks up his school bag. From the door, Namba waves enthusiastically at him. "I'll see you again Senpai!" she calls before running off.

"You can lose the Senpai! It makes me feel old…" he calls back, muttering the last part under his breath. His isn't sure if she heard him or not, but doesn't think on it too much. With nothing else to do for the day, he makes his way out of the school building. He decides to take a side entrance out since it's the quickest way to the dorms. When he steps outside, the April air hits him like a punch to the face, and almost makes him consider stepping back inside the school building.

He ignores it and moves on, walking along the east side of the building. Whoever said Misato was a bedrock town had to have been mistaken. From what he'd seen of it, it was a beautiful natural wonderland filled with lush greenery and foliage. Sometimes it felt more like a village in the forest than a town to him. As he makes his way down the east side of the building, he passes by a secluded table sitting behind some foliage. There is a sizeable group of students gathered around there "Mannnn… is this some kinda new formula or something? I swear I feel more high from one hit of this then two joints in the past," somebody drawls.

"It doesn't work like that, dumbass. It's a placebo effect, dude. You're feeling it more because you're in such a good mood." The voice makes Kazuto stop in his tracks. He recognises it. Before he can think much on it, he finds himself approaching the table. Like he'd somewhat expected, the twelve or so students gathered there were all smoking drugs. From the scent alone, he suspected it was marajaune. Surprising him the most, however, was the person sitting near the middle of the group.

"Sutona-kun?" he asked, though he was almost certain he was right. That messy grey hair and lazy drawl were too recognisable.

Sutona looked up at him, and his trademark lackadaisical grin greeted him. "Mono-chan!" he cheered, throwing his arms up in what looked like celebration. Kazuto only now noticed the blunt in his right hand. "What's going on dude?" he asks with more enthusiasm that Kazuto thought normal.

Kazuto raises and eyebrow. "Mono-chan? What's up with that?" he asks.

Sutona lowers his arms and shrugs. "It's a nickname, and a pretty good one if you ask me. Zuto-chan and Okyu-kun don't sound kinda lame, don't they?"

Kazuto can't help but laugh at the absurd logic. "Yeah, I guess so," he agrees. The rest of the students at the table somehow look more uncomfortable than him.

"Uh, Sutona? You mind introducing us to your buddy here?" one of them manages.

Sutona's eyes widen comically, it seems he's just acknowledged their presence. "Oh yeah. I guess introductions are in order. Guys, this is Kazuto Okubyomono, the transfer student I was telling you about. Mono-chan, these are my other pals," he explains.

Kazuto waves politely, trying to ignore the joints held in the other guys hands. "Nice to meet you."

One of them seems to recognise his name. "Wait a minute; I've heard about you! You were that guy who beat up two other students on your first day, right?"

Kazuto winces. "No, it didn't happen like that. I actually stopped a fight from breaking out between two students," he corrected.

Sutona nodded along. "Yep. My bud Mono-chan here's a really nice guy like that. So try and play nice, guys," he said, taking a puff of his joint. The other people just sort of nodded along awkwardly.

Once again Kazuto found himself laughing, "You're weird, dude." He turns his attention to the other boys. "So… what are you guys doing out here?"

"Uh… isn't it kind of obvious?" one said, gesturing with his blunt. Everyone except Sutona laughs at his expense. Kazuto winces but chuckles good-naturedly. "Soooo… are you gonna tell the school about us?"

Sutona cuffs him on the top of his head. "Come one man. Mono-chan's not gonna rat us out like that," he reprimands. He says it with such confidence, such absolute certainty that it genuinely surprises Kazuto.

"Yeah. I mean, it's your choice and it's not like you're hurting anybody," he tells them, and finds that he means it. Even if Sutona hadn't just stood up for him, he couldn't imagine himself cracking down on them for this. This wasn't at all the same as the lunchroom fight, where a whole host of people could've been seriously hurt.

After he says this, everyone at the table noticeably relaxes. Well, except for Sutona, who was already relaxed. "Well, with all that out of the way now, mind tellin' me what you were doing after school so late?" Sutona asks.

"Oh, I signed up for theatre club and had my first meeting," he explained.

"Geez, you move fast. Only your second day here and you're already joining a club. Good on you, man," Sutona comments.

Kazuto nods. "Yeah, I think it'll be fun." He trails off knowingly. "I guess I'll be going now. It was nice talking to you Sutona-kun," he tells them.

One of the students stops him. "Hold on a second. Since you're already here, wanna try it?" he asks, offering his blunt.

Kazuto avoids his gaze. "Um, no thanks. That's not really for me."

"C'mon dude, one hit isn't gonna kill ya-"

Sutona cuffs him on the head. "Stop pushin', Goto, he already said no," he criticizes. The now named Goto growls and rubs his head. The whole interaction has soured the mood somewhat, and it's no different for Kazuto.

"Do you… offer the other students like that?" he asks.

It feels like the temperature has dropped several degrees. "What's it to you?"

Kazuto meets his gaze again, eyes narrowed. "Nothing. Like I said, I don't mind you guys doing this by yourself when you're not bothering anyone. But if you're making offers to other students, and one's like me who have already told you no… well, that's a little different."

Goto rises from his seat. "Man, I knew this guy was trouble," he scoffs. Goto steps into Kazuto's personal space and grabs hold of his collar. "Listen, shitheel. You'd better not be thinking of tellin' Serizawa about us. Cuz' I swear if you are-!"

He's cut when Sutona separates the two of them. "Alright, guys, that's enough. Geez, I can only imagine what kinda crazy stuff would've gone down if I wasn't here to reign in you warmongers…" he mutters.

Goto only appears more agitated by his intervention. "Back off, Sutona! Man, what are doin' protectin' this guy anyway. You know he's gonna rat on us. I ain't gonna let that happen!" he declares.

Sutona lets out a sigh and fixes the other boy with his typical lazy grin. "Protecting him? Nah man, I was protecting _you_. Here's the thing about my buddy Mono-chan; he likes to act all modest and humble, but the truth is he's a total beast. You know that fight he broke up? Well, you should've seen the two students. Bloody mouthed and writhing on the floor… I think they even had some broken bones between the two of them. Trust me… it was not pretty. I don't really wanna see you six feet under, so I thought I'd do you a solid and help you out here." He turns to look at Kazuto, the same lazy grin still in place. "C'mon, Mono-chan, let's get out of here.

Even though this whole interaction has made him slightly trepidatious of Sutona, Kazuto knows better than to look a gift horse in the mouth and quickly follows behind him. When they are out of earshot of the other students Kazuto decides to say, "Thanks for the save back there." It feels only fitting considering how dicey things were starting to look.

Sutona sighs deeply, "Don't mention it." The two walked in silence for a while, making their way back to the dorm, before eventually Sutona speaks. "Those guys aren't really my buds, ya feel me? I just got to know them by proxy of well… this," he explains, presenting the unfinished joint to prove a point.

Kazuto looks off to the side. "I was meaning to ask about that… if you don't mind," he adds at the end, not wanting to pry.

Sutona waves him off. "Nah, it's fine. Go ahead, shoot."

Kazuto nods wearily but continues. "Okay… well, I guess I wanna know why you started in the first place."

Sutona stretches and yawns before answering. "It happened in my last year of junior high. I was kind of a lonely kid back then, but that didn't mean I was quiet, ya know. Kids at school knew who I was, even if I wasn't exactly friends with them…" he trailed off. "Anyway, one day a kid in school approached me about trying pot… heheh, it's actually kinda funny. I had almost the same reaction as you did, but he kept just talking and talking about how it worked and what it was like and whatnot that I guess my curiosity got the better of me and I tried it out." He shrugs, "And the rest, they say, is history."

Kazuto nodded along. "And from the looks of things you're fine with that," he comments, though not judgmentally.

Once more Sutona shrugs. "Yeah. I mean, you might not believe me but I don't actually smoke very often. Sometimes I just want my good moods to feel a little better, ya know?"

"Like a pick me up?"

"_Hell _no. If I did it like that it could really screw with my head, ya know."

Kazuto shakes his head. "I don't know, actually. But I'll take your word for it."

Sutona chuckles. "Thanks, Mono-chan."

Kazuto smiles, and it's a genuine one. "Hey, what are friends for?"

Sutona turns to face him, a little confused. Then, a wide grin breaks out across his face. "I _knew_ it! I _knew_ I would wanna keep you around!" he cheers, laughing like a little kid. Kazuto doesn't really get what he's saying, but finds himself laughing along anyway.

_Yeah… this is going to be a really good year…_

**A.N: And that concludes the second chapter. Tune in for the next one if you care. And man I really hope you do. This has been a lot of fun to write so far.**


	3. Purgatory

**Persona 6 Original Flavour Chapter 3: Purgatory**

Kazuto sat up in bed and stretched indulgently; he'd had a good night's sleep.

After sighing at the euphoric feeling of his joints popping, he threw the covers off and went about getting ready for the day. A shower was taken before he threw his uniform on, and after a quick breakfast he brushed his teeth and went out the door. The walk to school was peaceful-as it usually was-but he noticed some of the kids from yesterday giving him the stink eye. _I didn't think I'd be so go at pissing people off…_

He chuckled at the thought and went inside. Before too long the bell started ringing and Kazuto made his way to his homeroom. During classes he would occasionally sneak glances behind him to see if that one girl was watching, but she seemed to have other things on her mind today because her gaze hadn't crossed him even once. That relieved Kazuto more than he cared to admit. Ever since the incident yesterday afternoon, he found himself more on edge at school. _I don't know if what happened there has gotten around, but most people don't like me already because of the thing at lunch._

He groaned. Can't he have been accepted to a normal school?!

He'd have to take the good with the bad, he supposed. He still had Namba and Sutona, after all, and both of them seemed like they'd be fun to hang around. _Theatre club's meeting tomorrow… I wonder if I could get Sutona to join?_

"Okubyomono-kun!" the teacher called, and Kazuto snapped to attention. The teacher stood at the front of the class with his arms crossed, expectantly. Kazuto chuckled nervously

_Note to self: don't let your thoughts drift too much in class... _

**.**

The lunch bell rang, saving Kazuto from biology.

He sighed heavily and sank in his chair. He had a feeling he'd need to do a _lot_ of studying to pass this exam when the time rolled around. Sighing once again, he rose from his chair and woodenly started moving toward the cafeteria. He was one of the last students to leave for once, but he wasn't too concerned about the time.

Kazuto started making his way toward the cafeteria. Just as he was about to round a corner, he hears something that catches his attention. "C'mon… I know you had a hand in it. Is it too much to ask that you help me out?"

"Yes. It really is," another voice replies, this one feminine. "I did what I did to help you, not that I expected you to be grateful for it."

"Grateful?! Are you kidding me?!" the guy roared.

Kazuto sighed. He knows he can't ignore this, but he can't help but think fate was conspiring to get him in as much trouble as humanly possible. _I am a magnet or something?_ Regardless, he makes his way toward the voices and finds a rather alarming scene. A younger boy-perhaps even a first year-was hovering over a girl. As luck would have it, it was the girl who had been watching him during class yesterday. He's about to intervene and say something, but then he sees something which catches him off guard.

The girl's right arm is missing. Only her bicep and shoulder remains, everything else is completely gone.

His attention is averted before he can focus on it too much. "You _stole_ from me, and you want me to thank you for it!?" the guy cries, getting in the girls face.

Her eyes narrowed. "Yes, I stole from you. Stole your stash of narcotics, the contents of which very well could have killed you," she declares, and Kazuto is able to piece together what probably happened. From what they're saying, he can only assume the girl confiscated the guys hidden stash of drugs to stop him from getting hurt, and now he was grilling her because he's an addict. _If either of them are to be believed, that is. Either way, I won't let this escalate into violence._

Kazuto steps forward. "Hey, you two. Why doesn't everyone calm down before this goes to a place it can't come back from," he says, announcing his presence to the other two. They're gaze snaps to his, and Kazuto wilts.

"Who the hell are you supposed to be?" the guy snaps.

"U-um, well-"

"He's here to stop you from doing something stupid, I'd imagine," the girl interupts.

This only seemed to agitate the boy even further. "God, I'm sick of this crap!" He turns to the girl, whose face is schooled into a neutral expression. "Stop lookin' down on me like that!" he roars, drawing his fist back. Kazuto's eyes widen in alarm and he rushes forward.

"Hold on-!"

But it seems his efforts weren't necessary. Almost faster than Kazuto can comprehend, the girl moves, Her foot is hooked behind one of the boys heels and she sends him to the ground with a firm shove. The boy sits there for a moment, stunned, before he looks between the two of them, shouts "Forget this!" and runs off. Kazuto and the girl are alone now, and he turns to her with no small amount of trepidation.

"Uh… are you okay?" he asks dumbly.

The girl exhales and pushes her hair to one side. "I'm fine," she tells him. Their eyes meet, and she says, "I appreciate you trying to help me out there."

"Y-yeah, no problem. Hey, if you don't mind me asking, what was that all about?"

A small sigh escapes her lips. "I guess one could say I was facing the consequences of my actions."

"For confiscating that guys stash of drugs, right?" he asks, and wilts under her heavy gaze. "I-I may have overheard some of the stuff you were saying," he stammers.

"Hm, well I'm not surprised. I'm pretty sure the whole school heard with how loud he was being," she jokes, and Kazuto laughs out of obligation. "He's a first year student, Iseri Heiji. About a week ago I found him passed out with a needle in his arm, so I decided to take away everything he had before he killed himself," she explains.

Kazuto's expression softens. "That's very kind of you…"

The girl looks at him for a few seconds, and then away. "Perhaps… but I doubt he'll learn his lesson. People tend not too…"

"Well that's a bit harsh. How can you expect that to change if you don't allow yourself to believe it can?" he asked, his tone light.

She meets his eyes again, and this time she seems intrigued. "What was that?"

Kazuto is confused. "I was just saying that if you really believe people can't learn they never will. That's all."

"I don't know about that…" the girl says, more to herself than him. A silence stretches out between them, and eventually Kazuto can't bear it anymore.

"I'm Kazuto Okubyomono, by the way," he blurts out, surprising her. "We're, uh, in the same class…" He decides bringing up his knowledge of her watching him isn't the best idea right now.

"Oh, um, Chiyokanda Kami," she responds, seeming flustered for the first time since they've spoken.

Kazuto smiles. "It's nice to meet you, Chiyokanda-chan. You seem really nice… if a little rough," he says before he can bring himself not to.

"Hm? What do you mean, Kazuto-senpai?"

Kazuto averts his gaze and rubs his head sheepishly. "Oh, um, I promise I don't mean that in a bad way. I just… didn't like how you put down that student. I'm a big pacifist, you see…" he stammers, trailing off at the end.

"A pacifist? Oh! Um, I didn't mean to offend you then…" Chiyokanda informs him.

"Hey, it's no big deal. Let's just try to avoid violence; the both of us," he offers.

Chiyokanda smirks. "I don't know how successful you'll be, considering how you drag yourself into trouble," she comments.

Kazuto chuckles. "Hey, I promise I'm not _trying_ to, it just happens!" The two have a good laugh at his expense, though it seems like Chiyokanda is incapable of anything other than a soft chuckle.

When they finish, Chiyokanda smiles at him. Better still, it feels genuine. "I'll see you some other time, Kazuto-senpai."

Kazuto snorts. "You don't have to call me senpai. We're in the same year, ya know," he reminds her.

"True, but even so you're older than me. It only seems fitting."

"Kazuto-kun is totally fine with me. Senpai makes feel old…"

"Kazuto-san, then."

He looks up at Chiyokanda, glaring at her softly. "I'm not gonna win here, am I?"

She smirks again. "I don't know. We'll have to see some other time, won't we senpai?" she asks, and before Kazuto can get a word in edgewise, she turns and leaves.

**.**

With drama club not meeting that day, Kazuto decides to head straight home. As he makes his way to the dorms, however, something doesn't sit right with him. _I've been here almost half a week and I still haven't gone anywhere besides school and the dorm! _He pulls his phone out of his pocket to check the time, and upon seeing how early it is decides to make a decision. He still has plenty of time left in the day… why not make use of it and see what Misato had to offer?

He comes up upon a turn, and instead of making a right like he usually would when going home, he turns left and descends further into the town. Though 'town' feels like a bit of an overstatement if he's being honest with himself. Exploring the streets of Misato feels more like walking through a park then it does a bustling city. Lush greenery extends all around and even the most noticeable stores are positioned outside, more like a market than a large name-brand store. That wasn't to say Kazuto didn't enjoy it, however, after living in the crowded city for most of his life the rural suburbs of Misato are refreshing.

He only hopes that novelty remains with him throughout the year.

One street brings him through an open plain where people are doing yoga or having picnics or playing soccer. The whole scene is so personable that Kazuto can't help but smile. "Hey! You there, in the Nayamu high uniform!" someone to the right of him calls. Kazuto's attention snaps to them and he sees a street vendor beckoning him over with one hand. Burning with curiosity, Kazuto makes his way over to the friendly looking man.

"Um, hello there," he greets, unsure of how to present himself.

The older man beams at him with a wide smile. "Hi there! I saw that uniform and figured you were from Nayamu high. Am I right?" he asks.

Kazuto nods. "Yes. I'm a third year."

"Perfect! Listen here, buddy. I got a feeling the guys at Nayamu aren't exactly serving you guys quality food, so why don't you try an order of our Takoyaki to help wash down the taste of that mediocre crap, eh?" the man pitches enthusiastically. Kazuto only now understands that this man is trying to sell him something, and feels immediately stupid for not figuring it out sooner. _Still, Takoyaki doesn't sound so bad right now…_

He orders himself the food and thanks the man for his service, receiving some well wishes in turn. With that settled, he continues waltzing the streets of Misato while munching on his Takoyaki. It's the perfect mix of sweet and spicy, and Kazuto finds himself delighted with every bite. _Everyone here is so kind and friendly… _a small grin breaks forth on his face. _I think I'm going to really like it here_.

His exploration of Misato is aimless and misguided, but not totally fruitless. He manages to come across some nice restaurants and a couple bookstores that he knows will be useful in the future. He drops the trash from his finished takoyaki into a bin and looks around. Only now does it come to him that he is… completely lost. _Ah crap… I should've asked Sutona or Namba for a tour instead of doing it myself._

The part of Misato he's wandered into feels completely different from before. Instead of the lush greenery from before things are more industrialized, this looks and feels like the only part of Misato which actually resembles a modern city. Ah well, it not really a big deal, his phone can give him the directions back. Kazuto pulls it out and enters the dorms address as the destination. A second later he's told exactly how he needs to get back to the dorm.

Almost immediately he is forced to cut through a back alley, but he isn't too concerned because it looks abandoned. He starts walking, occasion looking at his phone to make sure he's going the right way. About halfway through the alley, something… strange, catches Kazuto's eye. There's some strange graffiti on the floor, a pure snow white in color. He's intrigued by this and decides to inspect it more closely. Oddly enough, the thing graffitied into the ground seems to be some form of pentagram. Kazuto isn't a satanist, but he recognizes the mark of lucifer from a project he had to do once for a world religion class.

"Weird… is there a satanist cult in Misato?" Kazuto wonders aloud. Even more perplexing to him is just how clean the pentagram looks. A perfect circle, with equally perfect linework and even some nice looking writing inside. It doesn't look like something someone would normally make; well, without a painstaking amount of effort, that is. Tentatively, Kazuto reaches out a hand to touch it.

And then everything goes straight to hell.

A bright blue light explodes from the pentagram, blinding Kazuto and making him cry out. The light fades almost as quickly as it came, but when Kazuto looks around his surroundings are completely different. He's still crouched in the middle of a back alley, but the buildings on either side of him are towering skyscrapers instead of the modest homesteads they were before. "What… the hell?" he asks himself.

He steps out of the alley and finds an even more confusing sight. The street he'd just been traveling looks completely different. There are cracks in the road and potholes lining the street. Towering building go on and on as far as he can see, but they all seem to be leading to one place. At the end of the street lies a gigantic sinkhole, with a spiral staircase lining the inside. All of this leaves Kazuto in a state of total confusion.

He can't even begin to comprehend what's going on, and that only makes him more frightened. "Uuuhhh," a voice groans somewhere next to him. He turns, and finds a surprisingly familiar figure. It's the boy from earlier, the one who was fighting with Chiyokanda. He lay sprawled out with his back resting against the wall of a building. His appearance alone made Kazuto feel slightly nauseous. His cheeks were sunken and his skin was a sickly shade of grey. His hair fell haphazardly over his head and his eyes were lidden and bloodshot.

Kazuto rushed over and dropped down next to him. "Hey, are you alright?" he asks, voice tinged with concern.

"...huh?" the boy groans.

Kazuto lifts his head so that he faces him, looking him over for any other signs of damage. "My god… what happened to you?" he gasps. The boy moans in pain by way of response. Kazuto now realizes that he's not going to learn much from him. Still, he can't help but wonder what could've happened to make him so out of it. He pulls out his phone, knowing he's done all he can to help. Unfortunately, when he makes to call for an ambulance he realizes that his phone has no service. _What the hell? How did this happen?_

He isn't given much time to think about it.

"_Excuse _me, young man, but just _what_ do you think you're doing on my domain without my permission?" an annoyed voice asks from behind.

Kazuto turns to face them, and when he does his eyes widen in alarm. Standing behind him is an older looking woman. She's rather tall and has gangly, string-like proportions. Her snow white hair looks like it's never been brushed or tended too, and goes down to the small of her back. Most disturbingly, however, is all of the various needles stuck into her arms, legs, and torso. The lady makes no move to take them out, and instead stares down at Kazuto with her glowing yellow eyes.

"U-um, well I, uh…"

The lady sighs deeply. "C'mon kid, spit it out! You probably came from someone else's domain, right? So just tell me which one and I can send your sorry ass back there!" she complains.

"Domain? What? I don't know what you're talking about?!" Kazuto shouts.

"Oh? _Oh…_" she smiles viciously, "Well this is going to be fun."

Before Kazuto can ask what she means by that, the lady snaps her fingers. Without warning, two monstrous creatures suddenly shoot up from the ground in an explosion of darkness. They're both gangly, goblin looking creatures with pointed ears and sharp teeth. Kazuto jumps back in surprise. What the hell was going on? Not five minutes earlier he had been on his way back to the dorms and now he was staring death in the face.

The lady turned to regard the two ghoulish creatures. "...Well? What are you waiting for? Tear him limb from limb!" she commanded. Not even half a second later the things charged after him. He tore down the street just before they reached him. He knew he had no chance of fighting the things, even if he wanted to. So he ran, he ran as fast as his legs could take him. Thankfully, that seemed to be faster than the monsters could travel, but he could still hear them snapping and growling behind him.

He continued to run, even past the point where he felt his body would have given out. Kazuto forced himself forward, not stopping for anything. When he could no longer hear the monsters behind him he had to stop and force himself to think. He couldn't run forever, and he sure as hell couldn't fight them. _Which means I need to find a way out of here._ He remembers the pentagram, and how that seemed to be the thing that dragged him here in the first place. He might be able to use it in some way to take him back, but of course that meant he would have to go back to the place where that crazy lady was probably still hanging around.

"Huggghhhh…" someone groaned to his left. He turned and found yet another poor soul with sunken eyes and sickly skin. He bit his lower lip in worry but approaches anyway. This victim seems to be a much older man, probably close to his fifties, but he looks as dead to the world as that poor teenager he had seen.

"What is this place? And how does it do this to people?" he asked himself

"Vice…"

Kazuto's eyes snap back to the man. He hadn't been expecting any sort of response, figuring this man to be just as lost as the other one. "Excuse me? What do you mean by that, sir?" he asks, shaking him the slightest bit.

"Vice…" the man repeats. "She's killing us… she'll be our downfall…"

"What? What is any of that supposed to mean? Who _is _Vice?" Kazuto asks frantically, annoyed by the mans vague responses.

"She holds us here… like prisoners… prisoners to her will…"

Kazuto exhales angrily and makes to leave. Even though the man could speak, he's simply spewing nonsense. He won't be able to help Kazuto get out of here at all. _Back to square one… fantastic_

Kazuto exhaled and tried his hardest to calm down. Getting angry wasn't going to solve anything. In fact, it was only more likely to get him killed in the long run. He tried looking at his situation more objectively. What he needed was a way out, and from what he could gather the only way to leave was through that pentagram. In order to do _that_, however, he needed to find some way to distract those monsters and that lady so that he could get out. _Worded like that it almost seems simple…_

His thoughts die when he hears a familiar hissing to his right.

The monsters were back! And standing only a few feet away from him! Crap! He'd spent too long here. One of the ghouls charges at Kazuto, but unlike before he isn't fast enough to turn tail and run. It's body crashes into him, sending Kazuto off his feet entirely and crashing to the ground. He groans in pain and tries to pick himself up, but the goblin creature is on top of him again before he can. It grabs his wrists and hisses in his face, sending spittle all over him. It rears back and moves to bite at his throat, but Kazuto plants his boot firmly in it's face before it can.

He grunts and pushes forward, throwing the ghoul off of him. Desperately, Kazuto scrambles back and his hands and knees, never once taking his eyes off the monster. Eventually, his back hits a wall and Kazuto freezes in fear. He's trapped now, with nowhere to run or hide. Worse yet, the monsters buddy seems to have caught up with him, so now Kazuto had _two _crazy demons to deal with. _Crap crap crap! What am I gonna do?! What am I gonna do…?_

"**You seek change, correct?"**

The voice burst to life like a gunshot, responding to Kazuto's unasked question. _W-what the hell…?_ Kazuto had seen and heard some pretty weird stuff today, but he hadn't expected voices in his head to be added to the list.

"**You want this world to change. You wish to make it in your own image. But how? By hiding behind your writing and interrupting schoolyard brawls? Pathetic… you could be doing so much more…" **the voice intoned.

The ghouls are starting to close in, and Kazuto suddenly feels a sharp pain in his skull. It's as if a hot knife had just been slid inside his brain, and the abrupt headache makes Kazuto cry out.

"**I am thou, thou art I. Take up my mantle, and use my power to bring about true change!"**

"AAAAAGGGGGGHHHHH!" Kazuto _shrieks_. The pain in his head has reached a fever pitch, and he honestly feels as if he's seconds away from passing out due to how painful it is.

But he doesn't.

Instead, as if being guided by some phantom force, he finds his right hand hovering over his heart. Instructions of some sort cram themselves into his brain, and he follows them almost subconsciously. His pointer finger draws a diagonal line over his heart, and suddenly a blue light-not unlike the one that had shown up before he entered here-erupted from his chest and traced the line he'd just made. Kazuto crosses his heart again, forming an X shape over his heart. For a few seconds, nothing happened, and Kazuto worries whatever had been happening to him wouldn't mean anything.

Then, everything changed.

An explosion of pure azure light erupts from around Kazuto, staving off the demons approach for just a little longer. It gives Kazuto the time to stand, and when he looks at his feet he notices that the satanic pentagram that had brought him here was now burning brightly beneath him. That's far from the only bizarre thing happening to him at the moment, however. To the side of him stands an intimidating figure. He was close to nine feet tall and stood rigidly in a way that suggested anyone who tried to fight it was asking for death. It wore a dull grey linen shirt and pants, but they looked more like wear from the middle ages than anything modern. At it's hip was a rapier, and though it didn't appear to have a face of any kind, it had two glowing yellow eyes and a head of brown hair.

"**From the sea of thy soul, I emerge. Now, we will take hold of our destiny and act as peacekeepers."**

Had things happened any other way, Kazuto would have felt lost, helpless and confused. But right now, in this moment, he felt as if an entire army stood no chance against him. He smiled, and unlike the ones he had shown previously, which were all warm and inviting, this one was confident and spoke of malicious intent. "I wouldn't have it any other way… Benvolio, cut them to pieces!"

Benvolio dashed forward, loosening his rapier from it's sheath. When he came within striking distance of the first ghoul, his blade lashed out. The monster brought up it's arms in an attempt to defend itself, but all that accomplished was having it's limbs sliced off, plopping on the ground in a small pool of blood. It shrieked in pain and horror, but it's screams were soon silenced when Benvolio's sword pierced it's throat. The remaining creature howled in rage and stomped it's foot like a petulant child. _I almost feel sorry for it… almost._

"**A wonderful start, but you mustn't remove yourself from the equation. Take up your own arms, and stride forward!" **Benvolio declared.

Kazuto's eyes narrowed. He was a pacifist, and had been for as long as he could remember. He'd spent a good portion of his life with the very thought of raising his hand against someone making him nauseous, but this was far from ordinary circumstances. These things weren't human, they were monsters with their only conscious thought being to follow the orders of the crazy lady who ran this place. In this situation… with these circumstances.

Well… Kazuto didn't have as much of an issue with picking a fight.

He raised his arms, and in another explosion of blue light found himself grappling a weapon. It was a long, thin yet undeniably powerful spear a pure white in color. Upon seeing him draw a weapon, the remaining ghoul hissed in anger charged forth, closing the distance between them rapidly. Gritting his teeth, Kazuto met it's charge with one of his own, releasing a similar battle cry. The ghoul stepped closer, and Kazuto chose to take advantage of his weapons reach by plunging it into it's chest. It cried out but didn't keel over, and Kazuto was quick to dislodge his spear with a quick kick to the chest.

Before it could recover, Kazuto brought his spear in an upward strike, severing the ghouls arm much like Benvolio had before. He struck out with the end, connecting with it's jaw and disorienting it, before he quickly spun and lurched upward, driving his spear into and _through_ the monsters skull. It shuddered and died, dissipating into a cloud of black smoke. Kazuto simply stood there, panting heavily as he looked over the non-existent corpses of the two enemies he'd just vanquished.

That… that was the first time he'd ever been in a fight. And not only had he fought, he'd one with ease. "Urp!" a wave of nausea suddenly washed over him and he dropped to his knees, heaving up his lunch. _It would seem I'm still very unused to the idea of fighting…_

After a few minutes he was able to stabilize himself and rise to a stand. He narrowed his eyes and looked at his surroundings. The gaudy buildings, the destroyed roadways… this wasn't Misato in the slightest, it was some perverse interpretation of it that Kazuto could only _hope_ to understand. Finally, his eyes settled on the road he'd just traveled down.

"Time the get the _hell_ out of here…"

**.**

When Kazuto closes his bedroom door behind, he's surprised that he still has the strength to stand.

His journey back from that perverse dimension or whatever it was had been relatively uneventful, but almost immediately after he'd come back to the real world a wave of exhaustion had crashed into him like a freight train and left him barely able to stand on two legs.

How he'd managed to drag his sorry ass back here, he'll never know.

Thoughts of the bizarre and borderline psychotic events Kazuto had experienced today are pushed to the back of his mind as he all but drops dead on his bed. _Bullshit later. For now… sleep._

A checkered path leading to a velvet door.

-But apparently, fate had other plans for him. Once again Kazuto found himself in the confines of the Velvet room, a front row guest to Igor and Felicia's blabbering. "Can we do this some other time, Igor? I'm trying to sleep," Kazuto complained, deflating in his chair.

"Do not worry. The 'you' in reality is currently fast asleep. I have called you here from within your dreams to discuss a matter of grave importance."

"And that is…?" Kazuto asks, now mildly interested.

Igor's manic grin-though unchanging on his face-seems to grow wider. "You have now had your first encounter with that 'other world'," he intones.

Kazuto snaps to attention so fast he almost gives himself whiplash. "You know about that?! What can you tell me about it?!"

"Regrettably, I can't answer the questions that are no doubt weighing heavily on your mind. But, since I _am_ meant to guide you along your journey, I will provide you with the one thing I do know. The world you mistakenly entered today is known as Purgatory," Igor explains.

"Purgatory? Like from christian mythology? Well that would explain the pentagrams and stuff…" Kazuto considers, mulling over the information.

"Like he said before, we can't answer any of that stuff, sorry," Felicia says with her usual lazy drawl. _Now that I think about it, she reminds me a lot of Sutona-kun._

Kazuto sighs. "Well, thank you for telling me what you could, then."

Igor chuckles. "You are very welcome. The next time we meet, it will be of your own volition," he instructs. For some reason, Kazuto actually believes him. "Until we meet again…"

And so, much like last time, Kazuto's consciousness fades and he leaves the Velvet room.

**A.N: Three chapters in boy! If you couldn't already tell, what I'm trying(and failing) to do with this original flavour is to try and combine aspects of Persona 3, 4 and 5 while still making this distinctly it's own thing. The more grounded characters of P3 with the rural setting of P4 and the idea of directly affecting the real world through actions in the other one from P5. Hopefully it'll all turn out okay.**


	4. Aftermath

**Persona 6 Original Flavor Chapter 4: Aftermath**

Kazuto's new school uniform came in that morning, but he has a hard time focusing on that.

The events of the previous day swirl around in his mind like a typhoon, but his musing brings him no closer to figuring out anything of substance. Honestly, he'd love to just forget yesterday even happened, and pretend it was a dream. He knows he can't however, the experience was too visceral and real for him to just ignore. _And that power I awakened too in there… I wonder what it is?_

Yet another question he couldn't hope to answer.

Kazuto goes through his morning routine robotically. He isn't really in the mood to go to school today, but he knows _not_ going would only raise concern and suspicion. Theatre club is going on today as well, and it doesn't feel right to leave Namba all alone like that. With that thought to drive him forward, he finishes up his morning preparations and heads off to Nayamu high. _Hopefully I can just have a normal school day for once…_

Kazuto snorts.

_Yeah right, like that'll ever happen._

***.***

Kazuto is distracted.

It's something Namba takes notice of pretty quickly once practice starts. His movements are stiff and his lines and expressions are forced. Namba was annoyed by this at first, because she thought she'd finally found someone with the same passion for acting as her. After a while, though, she was able to discern that whatever Kazuto had on his mind; it was pretty heavy, or meant a lot to him, at the very least. She knows it's not any of her business, but as club president it's her job to make sure the club members are comfortable and giving it their all!

...As much as some of them _can_, anyway.

When they take a quick break in the middle of practice, she makes her way over to him with a big grin on her face. "Kazuto-Senpai!" she greets enthusiastically.

Kazuto's eyes shift to her and his expression brightens. Namba can't help but notice, however, how tired and distant he still looks. "Oh, Namba-chan. Is something the matter?" he asks.

"Hmm, I guess you could say that," she remarks, eyes quickly scanning back and forth to make sure no one was listening. "So, the thing is-"

The door slides open, cutting Namba off and capturing everyone's attention.

Standing there is a short boy adorned in the same Nayamu high uniform her and Kazuto wear. His uniform, however, is done up to perfection, without a single wrinkle or fold in sight. His hair is a sandy auburn color and falls across his face erratically. Namba hasn't seen him anywhere near the drama club previous to this, and she gets the feeling he isn't exactly here to join the club. His eyes scan over the occupants of the club before finally settling on one.

Kazuto.

His eyes brighten when he sees him and he strolls forward with a bright smile. When he's standing almost directly in front of Kazuto he asks, "Excuse me. Are you Kazuto Okubyomono?"

Kazuto raises a brow, it's clear to Namba that this is the first time the two have met. "Um, yes? Who are you supposed to be?"

This catches the boy off guard, apparently. He chuckles nervously and scratches the back of his head. "Oh yeah, I guess I forgot to introduce myself. Sorry about that senpai!" he exclaims, and proceeds to bow deeply. When he straightens, he extends a hand toward Kazuto and smiles again. "I'm Yohachi Tsuzuki, a first year. I'm also the student council treasurer," he informs them.

Namba slams her fist into her open palm. "Oh yeah! I remember you. I think I voted for you, actually," she recalls.

Yohachi's smile seems to brighten. "Then I appreciate your support in me."

"Well, um, it's nice to meet you and everything, Yoachi-kun," Kazuto says, cutting back into the conversation. "The thing is, I get the feeling you're not just here to say hi. Are you looking to join theatre club or something?"

Yohachi shakes his head. "Oh, um… I'm sorry, but that's not the case. I actually came here because I wanted to talk with you, Kazuto-senpai."

"Huh, me? Why do you wanna talk to me?"

Yohachi's previous energy seems to have returned, and when he turns to Kazuto his eyes are practically sparkling. "I want you to join the student council, Kazuto-senpai!" he blurts out excitedly.

Namba's _and_ Kazuto's eyes widen in surprise. "H-huh? Wait a minute. Why do you want Kazuto-senpai on the student council. I mean, I don't mean to sound rude or anything but he just got here. Wouldn't there be other students better for the position?" Namba asks, entering the conversation again.

Yohachi turns to address her. "Normally I would agree with you, but I think Kazuto-senpai is an exception!" he exclaims, and his attention once again shifts to Kazuto. "I've heard about things you've been doing around school, and I think it's really admirable!"

"Huh? What do you mean?" Namba asks.

"Oh, you mean you haven't heard? Kazuto-senpai's been going around and really cleaning up Nayamu high from what I've been hearing. I mean, he stopped that fight on the first day, and I heard that just yesterday he stopped another student from hurting a fellow third year," Yohachi cheerfully explains.

This surprises Namba. "Really? How come you haven't told me about any of this, Kazuto-senpai?" she asks, genuinely curious.

Kazuto scratches the back of his head sheepishly. "Well… I just never thought it was that big a deal. I mean being a magnet for trouble doesn't seem like something to be bragging about, you know," he jokes.

Yohachi laughs at this. "So you're humble too? Even if you don't want to admit it, you've had a pretty positive effect on this school. That's why I want you to join the student council. With you, Eiichiro-san and all the others, I just know we'll be able to make Nayamu high that much better," he trails off and goes silent for a few seconds. Namba has to give him some credit, he has more passion about this than basically every member of the theatre club.

Yohachi's laser-focused gaze returns to Kazuto again. "So? What do you think? Will you join?"

Kazuto pats the air with his hands, exasperated. "H-hold on just a second! I-I really appreciate the offer and everything, but you're kinda dropping this on me out of the blue, Yohachi-kun. Can I have some time to think it over…?"

Now it's Yohachi's turn to be flustered. "O-oh my goodness, you're so right! I'm sorry senpai! I got so excited that I didn't really think about how this must feel."

Kazuto chuckles good-naturedly. "Hey, it's fine. I'm not really against the idea, I just want to think it over a bit, you know?"

Yohachi nods understandingly. "Of course. So long as you're thinking about it, I'm satisfied," he smiles brightly and makes to leave. When he's in the doorway, however, he turns and calls back, "I'll see you again some other time, senpai!" before leaving entirely.

The door closes behind him, and Namba and Kazuto share a good laugh as they process the whole situation. After a few seconds, Kazuto slams his fist into his open palm as if remembering something. "Oh right! Didn't you have something you wanted to talk about, Namba-chan?" he asks.

Namba stares at him for a second before finally shaking her head. "Nah, I'm good. Whatever was bothering you before seems to be settled now, so it's fine!"

Kazuto looks to her, shocked by her intuition, before smiling. "Let's get back to practice then."

Namba returns it. "Yeah, let's."

**.**

Kazuto leaves Nayamu feeling a lot better than he had previously.

He still didn't know anything about Purgatory or the power he awakened too there, but now his confused fear had faded and he was ready to tackle those subjects with rational thought instead of panic. As he starts moving towards the dorms, he starts thinking a bit about Yohachi's offer earlier that day. To be honest, the thought of joining student council had never crossed his mind before, so to be offered a position on a silver platter was a little jarring.

"So, the usual?"

"Sorry… I… need a little more than that this time."

"What, why?"

"Hey, don't throw a shit fit at me, man! This shit is hard to get, and this time it was even harder to get than usual because _somebody_ had to go and get their stash taken in."

"Eff you man, that was all that bitch Chiyo's fault!"

Kazuto sighs. It is a long, disgruntled, suffering sigh. _Just once I'd like to have a normal day without any trouble springing up._ But, like usual, fate seemed to be conspiring against him. He wasn't naive enough to think this wasn't his own fault, but he couldn't leave something like this alone. It just wasn't in his blood, especially when someone he knew might be involved. _Heard them mention the name Chiyo… could they be talking about Chiyokanda-chan?_

Either way, he couldn't let this continue.

Kazuto rounded a corner and came upon what was almost a familiar scene by this point. One student holding a bag of what could only be some form of narcotics was engaging in some sort of argument with another student. Surprising enough, Kazuto recognised the other boy as Iseri Heiji, the kid who had threatened Chiyokanda yesterday. _Typical, just typical._

Despite his not saying anything, both students were quick to notice his presence. "...shit," was all the dealer could bring himself to say.

"H-hey there…" Kazuto greets, waving awkwardly.

"Forget this, I'm out," the other guy said, before turning tailing and walking away. Now it was just Kazuto and Iseri alone.

"Goddammit! Why'd you have to come along and ruin everything like that!" he growls.

"U-um-"

"Wait a minute," Iseri says, cutting off Kazuto. "I remember you. You're that faggoty looking guy who got on my case when I was talkin' to Chiyo. You followin' me around or some shit?!" he accuses.

"W-what, no?! Look, I just have this really bad habit of being around whenever there's some kinda trouble, that's all. A-anyway, I'm sure you've got better things to do so I'll just-"

Kazuto is grabbed and thrown against a wall before he can finish his sentence. "Forget that! You've been on my ass for the past two days and I'm getting sick of it!" Iseri holds him in place and looks him in the eye. "I'm tired of people trying to get in my way… can you promise me you'll leave me the hell alone from now on?" he asks roughly, teeth gritting together.

Kazuto can't bring himself to say anything for a while. He wasn't stupid, he understood what Iseri was trying to ask him, but he just couldn't comprehend what kind of thinking would lead someone to request something like that. Kazuto had heard horror stories about how drugs can affect people, but this was the first time he had ever seen it in person. "Well?! Do you promise?!" Iseri screams, clearly losing his patience.

Kazuto closes his eyes, takes a deep breath and speaks. "I promise to leave you alone from now on… if you promise to stop all of this."

"...What?" Iseri breaths, in complete disbelief at Kazuto's request.

Despite the threat of violence looming over him, Kazuto can't keep himself from speaking. "I mean what I say, Iseri-kun. I mean, look around you! At what you're doing to yourself and others!" he takes a deep breath, hoping to calm himself so his anger doesn't make things worse. "You need help… let me help you."

Iseri presses Kazuto up against the wall and growls. "You… you… have got to be kidding me!" he roars. He draws his fist back and slugs Kazuto in the face, sending him reeling. Unfortunately he isn't given any time to recover before he's hit with a blow to the stomach-curling him in on himself-and then another to the face. Iseri ends his assault by pushing Kazuto against the wall again. He reaches into his left pocket and draws something which makes Kazuto freeze.

A knife.

It's just a simple switchblade, nothing special, but it still totally catches him off guard. "I am so _sick _of hearing that! 'You need help' 'think about what you're doing'; it's my life, goddammit! What does it matter to you how I live it! You don't even know me!" Iseri presses the blade against Kazuto's throat, his face screwed up in an expression of misguided anger.

Yet, for some reason, Kazuto doesn't feel deathly afraid. In fact, he doesn't feel scared at all. Instead he looks at Iseri and says "It matters to me… because I care."

Iseri laughs, and it's a truly horrid sound. "'Because I care'... what kinda bullshit is that. Well, let's see what good you're 'concern' did ya when I'm done," he threatens, pressing the knife against Kazuto's throat just hard enough to draw blood.

Kazuto still remains unfazed. "Are you actually planning on killing me right now? Just take a second and think about thi-"

"I told you I'm tired of hearing that!" he shrieks, and the knife is pressed that much harder against Kazuto's throat. At that moment, whatever sort of bravado or mental fortitude Kazuto had been expressing previously was forgotten, and the gravity of the situation hits him like a truck.

"T-the police!" he gasps out, and his words thankfully make Iseri pause. Kazuto isn't about to test how long that'll last, and continues talking. "W-what about the police? They'll find my dead body with your fingerprints all over it and trace it back to you easy! And even if they don't, you really think that other guy won't squeal on you just to get the police off his back?" Kazuto doesn't even know if half the things he says are true, but all he can do now is pray and hope Iseri believes him.

And, whether it be through fate or by god, he does. Iseri freezes up, before his eyes widen in horror and he steps back, freeing Kazuto. He looks down at his hands for a moment, and the thin line of blood that now adorns his knife. Before Kazuto can think of anything to say, Iseri throws the knife away and sprints down the alley, leaving Kazuto alone.

When he leaves, Kazuto presses a hand to his throat and traces the now opened wound there. He isn't sure why, but that complete numbing to fear he had experience when facing Iseri returns, and he can't muster up any strong emotions toward the wound other than _oh, I should get this cleaned and bandaged. _

…

When Kazuto walks into the dorm, it's almost entirely vacant. That is, of course, aside from one person.

Sutona Nonkina.

Kazuto spots him lounging on the living room couch reading some sort of manga. He's about to simply pass by him and go take care of his wound when a thought strikes him. _Actually, this could be a really good opportunity._ Without much forethought, Kazuto approaches the other boy and taps him on the shoulder. "Hey, Sutona-kun."

He's quick to turn around, sporting his usual lazy grin. "What's goin' good Mono-ah!" he cuts himself off with a gasp. "Dude what happened to you?!" he shouts, his usual lazy facade forgotten.

"We kinda need to talk…"

It wasn't until a while later that the two sat down on the couch again and spoke. Kazuto had taken the time to explain what had happened while Sutona helped clean and dress the wound. It really wasn't as bad as it looked-it was a pretty shallow cut, after all-but that didn't stop Sutona freaking out a bit. Kazuto supposes he ought to apologize for worrying him, but he has more pressing concerns on his mind at the moment.

"Hey… try not to take this personally, but you're involved with all the drug usage that's been going around school, yeah?"

Sutona is silent for a moment, clearly not very comfortable about this line of questioning. "I mean, I guess so? I know a couple dealers at Nayamu-that's how I get my product, after all-but it's like I told you before. I might smoke, but I don't do it excessively, and I sure as hell wouldn't steer anyone else in that direction," he explains.

Kazuto sighs. "That's a relief. Actually, I think that makes you the best person to talk about this," he realizes. Sutona tilts his head in confusion so Kazuto chooses to elaborate. "Listen, man. I just wanna know a bit about how that stuff's affecting our school. For instance… how much of a problem would you say it is?" he asks.

Sutona exhales and looks at the ceiling, as if searching for an answer in the tiles. "I guess the easiest way to answer that is to be upfront," he tells him. Sutona's gaze falls on him once again. "Honestly, it's pretty bad. I mean, I only hang around with my stoner pals, and you saw first hand how nasty those guys can be. And that isn't where it ends, either. I've never actually talked too 'em, but I know of at least a few clicks where are messing around with way worse stuff than weed…"

"Like narcotics?"

Sutona winces but nods. "I guess you have experience with that now too…" he trails off and looks Kazuto in the eye. "I'm sorry you had to get involved with this stuff, Mono-Chan. I'm sorry it even crossed your path in the first place."

This makes Kazuto laugh. "You don't need to apologize. I wasn't making much of an effort to avoid it in the first place, ya know?"

Sutona doesn't seem convinced. "I don't know… I still feel kinda responsible. I introduced myself to you and everything," he stops and sighs. "I really do feel for that kid you were tellin' me about. Screwing around with those hardcore drugs messes with your head something feirce. It's like you're not even in control of your own body anymore…"

Something occurs to Kazuto, and his eyes widen. "Almost like they're being controlled by someone, or some_thing_ else…" he mutters to himself. His attention snaps back to Sutona. "Sutona-kun… don't you think this is still really weird though?"

"What do you mean?"

"Well, I guess I mean it just doesn't seem natural. I've heard about other schools having drug problems, but this is kinda ridiculous, don't you think?"

Sutona smiles wryly. "It's like I was tellin' you, Mono-chan, that's how Nayamu high is-"

"Yeah, but _why _Nayamu high?" Kazuto interrupts, and makes Sutona pause. "Think about it. Isn't it a little odd how _this specific_ _school_ seems to have it so bad? I mean, there's no short supply of low-income schools in Japan, so why is it so bad at this one in particular?"

Sutona seems to be thinking hard on his words. "Know that you mention it…" he trails off. "But even so, what does that mean? What are you trying to say?"

Kazuto hesitates. What _is_ he trying to say? Honestly even he isn't very sure anymore. Completely unbidden, images of a Velvet clad theater and long-nosed man crop up in his mind. Kazuto bolts upright and quickly turns to Sutona. "Thanks for talking about all of this, but I think I should be getting to bed."

Sutona is taken aback. "What? Are you sure? I mean, it's only six-"

"I'm sure. I need to think about some things… anyway, I'll see you tomorrow."

"Um, alright the-"

Kazuto is already heading up the stairs.

…

A checkered path leading to a bright blue door.

For the second time in as many days, Kazuto finds himself in the Velvet room. He's not sure whether it's by fate or if Igor can predict the future, but the long nosed man was correct when he said Kazuto would come here of his own volition.

"Igor, I want answers," Kazuto demands.

The master of the Velvet room wears the same unchanging grin on his face. "I will answer as many as I have the ability too."

When he hears this, Kazuto takes a deep breath and tells himself to calm down. _Igor isn't my enemy here. Getting testy with him won't accomplish anything. _"Right, thanks. Well how about we start with me."

"What is it that you wish to know?"

"How I'm supposed to fit into all of this, mostly. What do I have to do with anything regarding that other world?"

Igor hums to himself before sliding his hand forward. In a flash, Kazuto finds his Velvet room contract resting in his lap. "I'm sure you remember the contents of this contract, correct? 'I chooseth this fate of my own free will…'" Igor pauses, as if letting the words sink in. "I cannot tell you in specifics what you are 'meant' to do in Purgatory, because simply put, it is not my place to say. _You_ are ultimately the one who decides what you're path will be. Whether that is to simply ignore Purgatory or some other path, I am not the one who will decide such a thing."

"My master's tryin' ta say it's up ta you," Felicia cuts in.

Kazuto nods, slowly. "Alright… well, can you at least tell me whether or not Purgatory has had an effect on the school?" It was, after all, the reason he came here in the first place.

Igor says nothing for a while, a silence stretching out between the two. "...As I said before, I cannot provide you with knowledge of the inner workings of Purgatory…"

"I'm sensing a 'but' there,"

"However," Igor intones, continuing. "I will inform you that your assumption is correct. The world where you're real body sleeps and that other one are intrinsically tied to each other," he explains. Kazuto's eyes widen. All of the sudden things start making a lot more sense. That strange woman he had met in Purgatory referred to herself as Vice. Vice was a word that drug usage was commonly synonymous with, and that poor soul he'd talked to kept saying things like 'we are slaves to Vice'. At the time he'd just considered it insane babble, but now Kazuto understood he'd meant. Him and Iseri and whoever else might be in that world were not only slaves to Vice-the strange monster woman-but also vice as in whatever unhealthy behavior they were engaging in to deal with stress.

"Jesus…" Kazuto exhales. Even though he'd suspected something similar, too have it confirmed was a whole other can of worms. _I guess I'll just have to take things one at a time. For example… what I am supposed to do now that I have this information?_

"Time marches on in your world," Igor suddenly says, surprising him.

After a moment, Kazuto chuckles softly. "Which means it's about time for me to leave, right?" He looks up at Igor and smiles. "Well, thanks for telling me all of this, even if it just makes me that much more concerned about what I'm supposed to do," he chirps.

"I won't keep you here any longer. But know that whatever course you take, I expect you to take full responsibility for your actions."

Kazuto chuckles softly. "Well of course…"

…

When Kazuto wakes up the next day, he takes a long time considering his next move.

Thankfully, he manages to decide on a course of action before he has to leave for school. _I'm gonna go back into Purgatory. I know next to nothing about the place, but if I go in and check things out a bit, maybe I can find out what Vice is doing to mess with people, and put a stop to it._

He isn't so dense as to think it'll be easy-he has no idea what he's even supposed to be looking for-but if he simply does nothing he won't get anywhere. Kazuto sighs as he looks down at his cup noodles. It's lunch period currently and Kazuto sits by his lonesome at a table in the cafeteria. "Why can't everything in life be as simple and enjoyable as cup noodles…?" he says to himself.

"I imagine we wouldn't have much to complain about if that were the case, and what would we do with our adolescence then?" a familiar voice responds. Kazuto looks up and finds the surprising form of Chiyokanda.

"Chiyokanda-chan? What are you doing here?" he asks.

"I was hoping to sit here," she explains, pointing to the seat opposite him. "Unless that's a problem for some reason?"

"Hm? Ah, no! Of course not!" he exclaims, laughing sheepishly.

Chiyokanda smiles bemusedly and sits. "That's good. I was actually hoping to see you again, Kazuto-senpai."

Kazuto sighs. "Again with that? I told you already not to call me senpai. We're in the same year, even if I am apparently older than you." He pauses for a second, "Come to think of it, how old are you anyway?"

"Seventeen. My birthday is later in the year so I'm always younger than most of my classmates when school starts," she informs him.

Kazuto nods understandingly. "Yeah, I guess I'm lucky to have a summer birthday. Anyway, I'm glad to see you're doing okay Chiyokanda-chan. I hope Iseri hasn't given you more trouble."

"Nothing of the sort, and Chiyo's fine," she tells him.

"Hm?"

"My name. You keep calling me Chiyokanda-chan, but everyone I know just calls me Chiyo."

Kazuto smirks playfully. "How about we meet in the middle with Chiyo-chan?"

Chiyo is caught off guard by this, but eventually grins. "I'll allow that." The two laugh, and Kazuto is once again vexed by Chiyo's inability to manage anything past a soft chuckle. Abruptly, Chiyo's expression becomes more downcast. "I hate to sour the mood like this Kazuto sen-I mean Kazuto-kun," she corrects after seeing his pleading look. "But… what happened here?" she says, gesturing to the bandage on his throat.

Kazuto starts and winces, running his hand over the bandage. "Oh this? I just got into a bit of an accident, that's all." He falters under Chiyo's harsh gaze. "It's really not as bad as it looks! It's just a shallow cut I got from a hanging branch while walking around Misato," he lies, and almost immediately hates himself for doing so. He doesn't want to keep this from her, but doesn't want to make her worry. Kazuto has a feeling Chiyo would end up blaming herself too, and the last thing he wants is for someone to bear that burden.

Chiyo looks to the side. "I didn't mean to blow it out of proportion if is was something small, it just made me nervous to see you like that," she expresses.

Kazuto sighs. "I understand. You see someone bandaged up like this and you can't help but wonder 'oh man! What happened there?'" Almost unbidden, his eyes fall to her missing limb. His gaze moves on just as quickly, but Chiyo's uncomfortable look is enough to tell him she'd noticed. Guilt and shame is quick to manifest in Kazuto's heart, and not a half second later he's bowing deeply to Chiyo. "I'm really sorry for staring like that, Kami-san. I didn't mean to suggest you had to tell me anything."

She sighs and takes a bite of her lunch. "You need not apologize, I understand that my missing arm can be a little off putting. You're far from the first person…"

"If you're trying to make me feel better, you kinda suck," Kazuto jokes, and just as quickly turns serious. "People shouldn't treat you like that," he says suddenly.

"Hm? What do you mean, Kazuto-kun?" Chiyo asks, seeming confused.

"Just what I said. I don't think other people should treat you differently because of that."

Chiyo smirks and chuckles from behind her hand. "That's sweet, and I appreciate it, but like I said before I understand-"

"But you shouldn't _have_ too," Kazuto emphasizes, surprising her-and himself, if he's being honest-. After taking a moment to collect himself, he simply says, "I just know what it's like to be stigmatized, and I wouldn't wish it on anyone else… that's all."

"Because of your odd looks?"

"Something like that…" he trails off, neither confirming nor denying her assumption. He starts, "Hey! What do you mean by 'odd looks'!?"

Chiyo smirks again. "Just what I said," she parrots, throwing his words back at him. The two start exchanging playful barbs, but Kazuto finds himself smiling despite himself. Right now, in this moment, thoughts of widespread drug abuse and other worlds were the furthest thing from his mind. All that mattered was the two of them, simply enjoying each others company and making jokes at each others expense.

_I really do wish this moment could last forever._

…

Sutona groans loudly while stumbling out of his classroom.

It'd been a _long _day, and that wasn't helped by the fact that he couldn't just fall asleep in class like he usually would. It all went back to that conversation he'd had with Mono-chan last night. Sutona wasn't a very worried person by nature. He didn't mind whenever unexpected shit sprung up out of nowhere and he wasn't one to plan ahead very often. But that very carefree attitude was what had him so hyper focused right now.

Kazuto Okubyomono had him worried.

After their little convo last night about the schools drug problem, Sutona had surprised himself by calling up one of his stoner buds, specifically Goe Kazuyuki. Kazuyuki was notable because even though he hung around Sutona and the guys when they got high, he was never really considered 'part of the group'. Sutona had heard rumours he was involved with some more intense stuff, and decided to see if they were true or not. Of course, that call had ended with a lot of screaming and a declaration from Kazuyuki too 'break his twink ass over my knee if you ever talk to me like that again'.

He'd promptly been ghosted by Sutona and everyone else.

Still, his overreaction good as much confirmed his involvement with some of the schools even more unsavory drug fiends. And then there was this morning… the look on Mono-chan's face was _way_ too determined for someone just going to school. _I get the feeling he's planning to do something reckless… _

And the last thing Sutona wanted was someone getting hurt by his screw-ups. Mono-chan may have told him not to blame himself, but Sutona couldn't help but feel responsible for getting him mixed up in this. _What was I thinking? That I could just befriend him and pretend the other people in my life wouldn't throw a shit fit? Stupid, stupid, stupid…_

Mono-chan really was too nice for his own good. And speak of the devil, there he is now. Mono-chan sped down the halls as fast as he could without breaking into a full out run, that same determined look from this morning on his face. As soon as he spotted him Sutona was off, chasing after his friend down the halls. He was ready to simply charge him down and stop him from doing something stupid, but had to remind himself to stop and think. "What's to stop him from disappearing the second I turn my back?" he asks himself.

So he decides to simply tail him instead. Maybe if he understands what Kazuto is thinking to do, he can talk him out of it easier. From their talks together, Sutona got the impression Mono-chan was a pretty reasonable guy. _Hell, there's always the chance I'm horribly wrong and Mono-chan's just going to get a haircut or something._

He wasn't betting on it, though…

Out of the school building and down the road, Sutona continued to follow Kazuto. He'd never actually tailed somebody like this before, but he's doing his best to apply what he's learned from movies and books. Thankfully for him, Kazuto doesn't seem to be paying much attention to his surroundings in the first place.

Soon enough Sutona is following him through the streets of Misato proper, but the longer they walk the more uneasy he feels. He's lived here for as long as he can remember, so he easily recognizes when Kazuto starts walking toward the more… unsavory parts of town. _What could you possibly want in this part of town, Mono-chan?_ he can't help but wonder. Could he have just read Kazuto totally wrong? Was the kind, understanding transfer student just a face he wore? Sutona didn't want to think that was the case, and plenty of decent people passed through this part of town.

Kazuto abruptly turned left, waltzing down a back alley like it was just part of his normal routine. Sutona's eyes narrowed. Now, he was starting to get seriously suspicious. Still, it wasn't like he was gonna accomplish anything standing here with his hands in his pockets. Sutona marches down the sidewalk and into the alley, expecting to find Kazuto already disappeared down the length of it. What he _wasn't _expecting was to find him standing in the middle of a pentagram looking like he was about to start a satanic ritual.

"What the fu-"

The world shifts.

**A.N: I feel like that's a good enough note to end on. One of these a.n's I'll probably talk some about the cast and their persona's symbolism, but that day isn't today.**


	5. Purgatory Redux

**Persona 6 Original Flavour Chapter 5: Purgatory Redux**

"What the hell is going on?!"

Suddenly, Kazuto thinks he should've put a bit more thought into this.

Although, to be fair, who could've predicted that Sutona Nonkina-lackadaisical stoner that he was-would be concerned enough about him to follow him into Purgatory? _I suppose that's my fault for judging him so quickly…_ "Sutona-kun, calm down-"

"Calm down?! Dude, are you _seriously _gonna ask me to just chill out and not care about all the supernatural bullshit surrounding me?"

Kazuto chuckles sheepishly. "Ehehe… I guess I can't really argue against that. I was pretty freaked out when I first came here."

"Wait, you've been here before? Actually, never mind, I don't think I wanna know. More to the point, what _is_ this place?" Sutona asked.

"It's called Purgatory, and-"

"It has a _name!?_"

"Sutona-kun," Kazuto said, unimpressed.

The other boy let out a suffering sigh and took a deep breath. "Alright, alright. I'll _try_ to keep from losing my cool so you can explain this," he offers.

"Thank you," Kazuto says simply. "Like I was trying to tell you before, this place is called Purgatory, and from what I understand it's another world that can only be accessed by… pentagrams," he finished, gesturing to the painted circle on the floor.

"Okay, um, I'm following you so far but… how did you even find out about this? Are you a satanist or something?"

Kazuto is taken aback. "What?! No! It's nothing like that! I just kinda stumbled in here by accident when I was exploring Misato," he explains.

Sutona seems more relaxed, "Well that's a relief." He pauses, and cups his chin thoughtfully. "Hey, wait a minute. That doesn't explain why you're here now," he points out.

Kazuto's breath stops short. He considers for a good while whether he should tell Sutona the whole truth or not, before eventually settling on doing so. _If he knows what I'm doing in here he'll be worried, no two ways about it. But It'll mean he's less likely to rush in here and try to stop me or do something else stupid._ "I… I think this place has something to Nayamu's drug problem," Kazuto explains.

Sutona's eyes widen briefly. "Wait, no bullshit? You're actually serious. But how is that possible? I mean you told me this was a totally different world," Sutona points out. Kazuto takes a deep breath to prepare himself before speaking. He tells him about his first voyage into this world, and his encounter with the horrible demoness simply known as Vice. He also tells him about this worlds connection to the real one, his talk with the sickly man and his Persona. He decides to leave out anything involving Igor or Felicia, because he doesn't know how those two are supposed to fit into this in the first place.

"So, what's your plan?" Sutona asks when he's finally finished. "I mean, are just gonna beat the shit outta this Vice chick or what?"

Kazuto sighs. "Honestly? I'm here to figure that out myself. I was hoping to use today as an opportunity to find out whatever I could about Purgatory, and maybe use that knowledge to figure out how to stop Nayamu's drug problem. Or like, lessen it at the very least," he explains.

Sutona rubs the back of his head apologetically. "Oh wow. I guess I kinda threw a wrench in that plan, huh? Sorry."

Kazuto shakes his head. "Nah, it's fine. It's my own fault for making you worry so much you thought you needed to check on me. For what it's worth, I'm sorry about that," he apologizes.

Sutona waves him off. "Eh, don't sweat it. Now that I know what's up I'm not all that worried anymore," he tells him. His expression hardens into something more serious. "But if you get seriously hurt doin' this I may not forgive you as easily," he warns.

Kazuto smiles and chuckles lightly, "I'll do my best to prevent that." He turns away and looks up, "Still, I wish I knew a bit more about this world…"

"If information is what you're looking for, I'm more than willing to provide it," a previously unheard voice announced. Kazuto and Sutona's heads whip upward, and almost immediately after they see a small figure leap down from a fire escape. It plopped down in front of them, and the two boys were baffled to find they were staring at a…

Snake. A python to be exact.

"I _will _require something in exchange, of course," the snake announces. Kazuto and Sutona simply look between each other, completely lost.

"Um… you're seeing this two, right? I'm not just high as shit?"

Kazuto nods slowly. "I kinda wish I wasn't…"

"It's pretty rude of you to act like I'm not even here," the snake complains. Kazuto turns to regard him, chuckling awkwardly.

"Ehehe… sorry about that… snake-san? I'm still wrapping my head around this Purgatory stuff…" he trails off lamely, not sure what else to say.

"Hold on a second, Mono-chan! Are you sure we should be talkin' with this guy? How do we know he's not one of those weird demon things you were telling me about? I mean he's a talking snake for crying out loud!" Sutona exclaims.

"He's got a point. I could very well be a shadow, so why bother giving me the time of day? I know you have a Persona, and a strong one at that," he(?) hissed, staring at Kazuto intently.

"You agreeing like that only makes me more suspicious."

In return, Kazuto just smiles. "No, you're alright. I mean you're actually talking to us instead of just attacking, which is what the other monsters-I think you called them shadows?-would do."

The snake smiled, or whatever the equivalent of that would be for a python. "You're smarter than you look. When you just charged in here I figured you probably weren't the brightest," he(?) admonished.

"Enough about that. You said you could tell us about this janky world, right?" Sutona interrupts.

He(?) nods. "Indeed. I can tell you everything you want to know about Purgatory, but I'll expect your assistance in return."

"Assistance with what?" Kazuto asks.

"I think you'll best understand after I tell you about this world," he assures vaguely.

Kazuto sighs but relents. "Alright, fine. Can you tell me your name at least?"

"Hm? Oh, it's Iroh," Iroh informs them. He slithers forward so they can get a better look at him. His scales are a dark green in color, and his underbelly is a ten hue. "You may want to take a seat, this is going to take a while, after all," Iroh instructs, and Kazuto and Sutona are quick to follow his instructions. "Now then, what is it you wish to know?"

Kazuto thinks about it for a second. "Alright, well… how about we start with what Purgatory is actually supposed to be?"

Iroh grins-or whatever the approximation for a grin is supposed to be with a snake-and speaks, "Right to the point, I see? To put it into terms that you might best understand… this world is the physical manifestation of humanity's triumphs and shortcomings."

"So, what? Will the next mayor of Misato suddenly show up here because he 'triumphed' in the election or something?" Sutona asks skeptically.

Iroh hums. "Not quite. What I mean is that, in this world, the things plaguing humanity in yours are given physical form."

A metaphorical lightbulb goes off in Kazuto's head. "Are you talking about Vice?!" he exclaims, eyes widening.

Iroh bobs his head, and it takes Kazuto a second to realize this is a nod. "Precisely, she's a perfect example. In your world there are many things people use to try and relieve stress, and distract themselves from their problems. Money, sex, drugs, all of these things are Vices in your world… and-"

"-And they've been given physical form in this world, as that crazy demon!" Kazuto cheers, finishing the thought.

"Dude, you are way too excited about this," Sutona comments.

Kazuto rubs the back of his head and chuckles nervously. "Maybe… but it's kind of exciting, isn't it? We're finally getting some answers!" he proclaimed. He turns back to the snake. "Hey, Iroh-san? You were talking about how whatever's plaguing humanity is given form in Purgatory. Does that mean there could be more crazy monsters like Vice hanging around?"

Iroh observes him rather curiously. "You're rather observant; but to answer your question, yes. There are multiple sentient shadows that populate Purgatory."

This startles the two teens. "Shit, seriously? We could've been in deep shit if we came in here from someplace else then, huh?" Sutona observes worriedly.

"You're not wrong… in truth it's very fortunate I found you before any of the shadows did," Iroh informs them.

"Not that you mention it, something's bothering me… Purgatory is supposed to be the manifestation of humanity's triumphs and shortcomings, but if that's the case then where are the shadows that would be symbolic of our triumphs?" Kazuto asks.

Iroh smirks. "You're looking at him."

Kazuto and Sutona's eyes widen simultaneously. "Are you for real!?" they ask in unison.

He nods. "I am the manifestation of human hope; of justice and growth through struggle. It's why I chose to help you out instead of attacking you, and why I am able to use a Persona. Like your friend, here," he gestures to Kazuto.

"Damn, Mono-chan, this is nuts," Sutona comments.

"No kidding…"

Iroh continues, ignoring their comments. "It's my duty to protect humanity by vanquishing the destructive shadows that plague this world, and, by proxy, yours. However, to be blunt, I'm not capable of doing this on my own…"

Kazuto and Sutona share a look. "Uh… I don't like where this is going," Sutona voices. Kazuto didn't really either…

"I came to you because I need your help. I would ask that you use your power to assist me in my mission!" Iroh declares.

"This is a lot to drop in someone's lap all at once…" Kazuto observes.

"No kidding…"

Iroh looks flabbergasted. "Please! I greatly require your assistance!" he cries, almost desperately.

Kazuto pats the air with his hands. "H-hold on a second! Don't get me wrong, I understand that what you're doing is super important, but I just came here to see if I could solve my schools drug problem! _This_…" he says, gesturing to Iroh. "Well… I wasn't exactly prepared for all of this…"

Weirdly enough, Iroh actually looks relieved. "Haha… I wish you'd told me this sooner. I know a way we could both assist each other, with that being the case.

The two teens perk up. "Wait, really?" Sutona exclaims.

"Of course. Like I said before, this world is the manifestation of humanity's shortcomings-like Vice-so, if we were to destroy her, then those suffering in her domain would be released from her will," he explains.

Kazuto jolts forward. "Are you serious?! We can help the people in Nayamu by taking down Vice in Purgatory?!"

Iroh smirks. "Precisely."

Kazuto and Sutona share a look. "That… that's pretty damn incredible. I mean, all we gotta do is put the hurt on this Vice chick, and then all the poor kids sufferin' like Iseri-kun can start livin' normal lives again!" Sutona ranted excitedly. Kazuto nodded along, a wide grin on his face.

The two of them seemed to be in agreement, so Kazuto looks back to the snake and says, "Alright, Iroh-san, I'll do what I can to help, but we have to start by taking down Vice!" he demands.

Iroh nods understandingly. "I have no problem with that."

"Alright!" Sutona cheers. "Hey, Iroh-san. You have to know where all these shadows are hiding out, right? Can you take us to where Vice is?" he asks.

"Hold on a second," cuts in Kazuto. "Sutona… I really appreciate you sticking with me, but you don't have any way of protecting yourself in here…"

Sutona waves him off. "I'll be fine, Mono-chan. I know when to turn tail and run, and I wanna make sure I'm there to pull your ass out of the fire too, ya know?" he explains. Kazuto makes an unsure sound, but he knows he doesn't really have a choice. If he can stumble into Purgatory without a Persona, then it stands to reason Sutona could as well. Having him around to keep an eye on was much better then being completely in the dark on his actions, anyway.

With all that in mind, Kazuto turns to the guy who was quickly becoming his closest friend and said, "All right, let's do this."

…

Vice's layer was pretty frickin' creepy.

Sutona isn't sure why he expected otherwise, but roaming around the place was still way more unerving than he'd anticipated. The staircase that lined the outside of the sinkhole leading to Vice's place was made of jagged, uneven shards of glass which reflecting the eerie purple hue that seemed to emanate from the shadow's nest. Of course, that was nothing compared to the actual layer itself.

It was built into the side of the sinkhole, and shined with this blinding violet light that Sutona could only guess at the source off. Despite being Vice's layer, the building was a lot smaller than Sutona expected. It was barely two stories high, and reminded him of a drug den one of his less savory pals had show him once.

Needless to say, Sutona had dropped his ass within the day.

"It's… smaller than I expected," Kazuto comments, voicing Sutona's thoughts.

"Don't let it's outward appearance fool you, Vice's layer is rather sizeable; it simply goes downward instead of out," Iroh clarified.

"Oh geez, so this chick literally has a super villain hideout? 'Sounds like something out of Neo Fethermen," Sutona chides, scratching the back of his head.

"I can assure you that the danger inside is _very _real," Iroh chastises.

Sutona frowns. "You're not doin' a great job at easing my nerves, ya know," he mumbles, facing forward.

Kazuto hums thoughtfully. "I guess we oughta start our exploration then," he decides, walking forward. Sutona is trepidacious, but he meant what he said about not wanting to see Mono-chan get hurt, so he follows after Iroh and Kazuto.

The entrance of Vice's layer doesn't dissuade Sutona's impression of a drug den. The walls are crumbling and have weeds growing out of them in some places, and the furniture that is present is torn and ratty. "I don't wanna imagine what this place would like with a blacklight," Sutona observes, grimacing.

Kazuto shudders. "I'd rather imagine you didn't just put the thought in my head," he comments, surveying their surroundings. Directly in front of them lines a worn staircase that Sutona assumes leads further into Vice's layer. Off to the right lays another staircase that leads up to the second floor, and two the left is a door that leads… somewhere. Out of curiosity, Sutona tries the handle on the door, only to find that it's locked. Unfortunate, but not debilitating by any means, he imagines the staircase leading downward is their most pressing concern anyway.

"Hey, Iroh-san?" Sutona called(And man did it feel weird to talk to a snake like that), "You've been here before a few times, right? Can you lead us to where Vice's throne or whatever is?" he asks.

"Not quite," Iroh informs them regretfully. "I _have_ ventured into Vice's layer before, but I've never managed to get very far on my own. I'll try my hardest to guide you through what I do know, but I can't guarantee that will be very far."

Kazuto sighs. "That's unfortunate, but I guess we'll just have to adapt then." His gaze turns toward the stairs to the left. "Come one, let's make sure there aren't any shadows on the second floor. I don't want them surprising us if we need to get out in a hurry," he explains.

"A wise decision, let's move," Iroh compliments, before slithering up the stairs.

"...Goddamn. It is _weird_ watching a snake move up stairs like that."

Kazuto nods in agreement. "I'm still coming to terms with the whole 'talking snake' thing."

Regardless, the two of them follow him up the rickety stairs and onto the second floor. It doesn't look too much different that the entrance. Worn down and ratty… like a low income apartment run by a crappy landlord. Still, the group of three walked down a hallway before stopping in front of a broken down door. The one isn't locked, and opens up to reveal… um, well, it looks like a room someone would find in a love hotel. A large, heart shaped bed sits in the middle, and the room as a whole is an ugly shade of hot pink that somehow only accentuates the trashiness of the place instead of detracting from it.

Even more alarmingly was the half naked man sitting on said bed.

"Um… are you okay…?" Kazuto asks hesitantly.

"Don't be fooled! That 'man' is a shadow!" Iroh calls, before he suddenly shoots forward at a near superhuman speed. He opens his mouth and sinks his fangs into the man's neck. Sutona's eyes widen in alarm, but that is quickly replaced by shock when the man shudders and breaks into a pile a goo, that goo then coming together and forming two impish figures holding pitchforks.

Iroh drops down next to them before looking to Kazuto. "You have a Persona, no? Then I ask you assist me in this fight!" Iroh demands, facing forward.

"R-right!" Kazuto stammers out, most likely still trying to process everything like Sutona was. Sutona knew when he was in over his head, though, so he's quick to step back and let the supernatural dudes fight it out.

Iroh is the first to strike.

He zips along the ground, dodging the shadows attempt to pierce him with it's pitchfork, before he speedily slithers up said pitchfork and launches himself at his opponent. His fangs sink deep into the neck of the shadow, but he doesn't stop himself there. His tail wraps itself around the enemy's neck, before Iroh chucks him over his non-existent shoulder with a strength he probably shouldn't possess.

The shadow crashes against the wall before slumping forward. A second later, it's body crumples like a sheet of paper and dissipates into nothing. It's over so quickly that Sutona is barely able to follow it with his eyes, and the other shadow seems genuinely shocked. Kazuto takes notice of this and presses their advantage. He crosses his heart with one hand, and a blue light suddenly burst underneath him. It takes Sutona a second to realize said light is coming from the pentagram underneath his feet.

Cause _that's_ not creepy at all.

Not half a second later, a figure comes to life behind Kazuto. Sutona's never seen a Persona before, so taking a look at Benvolio's quiet but undeniably powerful form leaves him in awe. He isn't given much time to appreciate it before Kazuto strikes. "Kouha!" he cries, and Benvolio forms a ball of white light in his hand. Kazuto's Persona chucks it before the enemy is given time to think, and it crashes into them with such force that they're immediately sent to their knees.

"Perfect! You're picking this up quickly, Kazuto-san. Now finish it!" Iroh calls. Kazuto steps forward and lashes out with his spear, piercing the shadows skull and killing it instantly.

"Damn, you guys have some moves!" Sutona compliments, supplying them his trademark lazy grin.

Iroh smiles demurely. "I'd have to agree. You managed to do it without my telling you, but I feel the need to inform you anyway. So listen closely, Kazuto-san." Kazuto nods and does so. "Some shadows have weaknesses to certain affinities. That was why your bless attack was so effective against that shadow," Iroh comments.

"Is the same true of us then?" Kazuto returns with a raised brow.

Iroh nods. "Most certainly. Which is why we have to be careful to try and guard ourselves against them."

Sutona lets out a light sigh. "Well that makes this a lot harder for us," he grumbles. Even so, it's not like he's in any place to complain, he doesn't even have a Persona. The group of three continue making their way through the second floor. They meet a couple more shadows on their way, but Kazuto and Iroh dispatch them with the same amount of ease as they did the first two. Iroh hasn't even had to use his Persona yet, which makes Sutona curious as to what it might even be.

Eventually, they find themselves at the door to what they can only assume is the last room of the second floor. "We finally made it, hopefully we can clear whatever threat might wait for us here with ease and get on with the _actual _exploration," Iroh grumbled.

"Is that a hint of frustration I hear in you voice?" Sutona teased, grinning his lazy grin. Though, he can't really blame the snake, he's about done with this as well. Without any forethought, Sutona reaches forward and turns the knob, pulling the door open. Kazuto and Iroh are quick to step inside, and Sutona isn't far behind. The small, square room they step into is singular, and doesn't lead to anywhere else. The space itself seems more like an outpost than an actual room anyway, with how barren it is. To his left, Sutona can make out some sort of balcony area that overlooks the entrance to Vice's layer.

_Wait a minute. If this place overlooks the entrance, does that mean Vice knew we were-_

Sutona isn't able to finish that thought, as he finds himself thrown bodily across the room. He crashes against a wall and slumps to the floor, gasping for breath. He hears Kazuto cry out "Sutona-kun!" and then what sounds like fighting, but he's so out of it he can't focus on much else. _And not out of it in the fun way, either…_ Sutona laments internally. It takes a lot of effort, and he feels like losing his lunch more than once, but he manages to bring himself to a sitting position so he can see what's happening.

Kazuto and Iroh are fighting against some kinda shogun era lookin' samurai. The shadow is clothed head to toe in the armour traditionally associated with the noble warriors, and it carries a deadly looking katana in its hands. The shadow races forward and locks blades with Kazuto-can a spear be considered a blade?-but while the shadows occupied with it's contest of strength Iroh's Persona burst forth. It's a large, humanoid figure dressed in a toga, and it has a thick greying mustache as well.

"Gandhi! Psi!" the snake cries, and Gandhi is quick to fulfill his request. It extends it's hand, and a burst of trippy, neo-colored energy shoots forth and strikes the samurai's side. The shadow grunts and falters for a second, but that's all it takes for Kazuto to push his weapon to the side and stab forward, striking it in the chest. He follows up by slamming the haft in it's chin, before bringing his spear around to slice at it's throat. The shadow's blade intercepts before the blow can land, and Kazuto finds himself in a blade lock with the shadow once again.

This time, he only uses one hand to push back the samurai, leaving him at a disadvantage. However, he uses his free hand to cross his heart, summoning his Persona like before. "Kouha!" he calls out, using that bless spell Sutona had seen earlier. It slammed into the shadows face and did-!

...absolutely nothing. This can't be good…

"It's no good! Bless attacks don't affect him!" Iroh cried, worry lacing his tone. Kazuto only has half a second to look surprised before the shadow moves. Its leg slams into his stomach, sending him away and ending their contest of strength. The shadow is far from done, though, bringing it's blade up and carving into Kazuto's free arm. Sutona's eyes widen at the sight of blood, but it only gets worse when the shadow makes to impale his friend. Kazuto is able to avoid the fatal blow, but barely, and there's still a thin cut left on his ribs.

Before Kazuto can get away, the shadows hand lashes out and takes hold of his collar. It smashes its head against him, sending Kazuto reeling, before it tosses him to the side much the same way it did Sutona. "Mono-chan!" he cries out upon seeing his friends body hit the ground, barely conscious.

Iroh's eyes widen in alarm. "Gandhi, heal him!" he cries, but he's barely able to get that out before the samurai is on him, slashing away at the dexterous snake. Sutona's attention isn't as much on that as it is his friend, though. He is aware of the green light that surrounds him, as well as the wounds he retained closing, but it doesn't stop him from replaying the last few seconds in his mind over and over. _That shadow tore through Kazuto like it was nothing and tossed him aside like yesterday's garbage!_

He manages to turn his attention to the battle just enough to realize that Iroh is on the back foot, and all that does is confirm his worst fears. _Oh god… that guy is too strong for them. What am I gonna do? If I don't do anything… then Kazuto's going to die, and it'll be because of me…_

"**Do you plan to cower in fear, then?"**

The voice hits him like how he imagined and instant high would. It cuts through all the noise in his head and only gives him once solitary thing to think about. That being… itself.

"**You've spent your life as the passive observer. Never engaging with the world, yet acutely aware of its existence… What a hollow way to spend your life. No longer… it is time for you to become a player, and not a piece! I am thou-!"**

"-Thou art I…" Sutona grounds out, the words slipping from his mouth almost against his own will. He has a gnawing headache slowly growing in intensity, but he's experienced more than his fair share of crashes from his drug usage. Sutona raises to a stand, and much like his friend had previously, he crosses his heart. The satanic pentagram that accompanied Kazuto and Iroh's summoning rests firmly beneath his feet, and as he feels a power growing within him he mumbles the words, "Per… so… na…"

In a great flash of blue light, Sutona finds his Persona hovering behind him. It's a giant fox with beautiful pure white fur and a collection of nine tails sprouting from its backside, all of white are tipped a blindly shade of red. The worry he'd felt before gradually slides off Sutona's face, and is replaced by his signature lazy grin. "That was more of a hassle than I was expectin', but at least I'm not a damsel anymore… right, Kitsune?" he asks, looking over his shoulder at the folklore creature.

"**You've finally realized the truth and deciding to take action. I couldn't be more proud of you," **Kitsune praises, it's tails swishing but it's mouth somehow making sound without moving.

Sutona isn't given time to reply before the shadow charges in, making to cleave him in half. Sutona isn't defenseless anymore, though, and raises his arms to meet the attack. In an explosion of blue flames, a nunchuck finds itself in his hand. The shadows sword strikes the chain, making the weapon wrap itself around the blade and stopping it's decent. Sutona clutches the two handles of the weapon in his hand, his lazy grin unmoving. "Geez, you're so self-serious. It's kinda rude to just interrupt me like that, ya know?" he comments, before swinging his arm to the side.

Sutona tears the sword away from the shadows grip, sending it flying off to the side. With another explosion of flames, a second nunchuck appears in his other hand, and Sutona smacks the shadow in the face with that one. He follows up with a quick series of blows, striking the samurai in it's chest and head, before sending it away with a well placed kick. The shadow is sent reeling, but manages to recover rather quickly. Sutona isn't too alarmed by the apparent lack of effect of his assault. That's far from his only power, after all.

"Blow em' away, Kitsune," he says, and his Persona complies without hesitation. A piston of highly pressurized wind is sent forth, punching a whole in the samurai's stomach and bringing him to his knees.

"Excellent! You've found it's weakness, Sutona-san!" Iroh cheers.

A hand is place of his shoulder, and Sutona looks back to see Kazuto on his feet. "Perfect, let's finish this!" he cries. Sutona wouldn't admit it, but seeing his friend back on his feet again made him way more relieved than it should.

"Hell yeah! This is takin' too long, anyway," he mock complained before charging the shadow with Kazuto and Iroh. The three strike like a bolt of lightning, and not two seconds later the shadow dissipates into nothing.

"I can't believe it… you've got a Persona too, now," Kazuto observes, sounding short on breath.

"I'm surprised, I'll admit, but it wasn't unexpected," Iroh comments.

"How so?" Sutona questioned.

"Persona's are the strength of one's heart, and it takes a rather strong will to willing explore a place like Purgatory without a means to defend yourself."

Sutona rests his hand in his chin. "Huh, I guess that makes sen-whoa…" he cuts himself off, stumbling and nearly falling over. Kazuto makes to catch him before his face meets the concrete, however. "I think I'm coming down guy…" he mumbles.

Kazuto lets out an exasperated sigh. "You weren't even high when you came in here. You're just worn out from summoning your Persona; I was the same way," he explains.

Iroh looks off to the side, at the balcony. "I know we haven't exactly made any forward progress, but I suggest we retreat for now. We're all exhausted after that fight, and carrying around a half dead Sutona-san would only burden us further," he reasons.

Sutona, for his part, couldn't agree more…

…

They ran into a problem not too much later.

"Dude, you can't come with us," Sutona says sternly.

"After everything I've done for you today?! Is it really so much to ask I have a place of residence outside of this world?!" Iroh cries indignantly.

"Uh, yeah? We both live in our schools dorms! Which _just so happens_ to have an explicit 'no pets allowed' policy. We could get thrown out if you're spotted," Sutona explained.

Kazuto nods sheepishly. "Yeah… if it weren't for that I honestly wouldn't mind taking you along, but I kinda need a place to live if I'm gonna help you out here, ya know?" he points out.

Iroh sighs and grumbles to himself. "Very well… just don't make me wait to long before you return! I'm ready to make some real progress in Vice's layer!" he declares.

Kazuto smiles at the little snakes determination. "Of course. I promise."

"And I'm already plannin' on tagging along to make sure Mono-chan here doesn't get himself killed, so don't sweat it," Sutona supplies, his trademark lazy grin plastered on his face.

Iroh smiles and nods. "That's reassuring to here. I'm looking forward to seeing you again. Kazuto-san, Sutona-san." And with that, he slithers away.

"...Do you think he actually has a home, or does he just sleep wherever he can?" Sutona asks as soon as he's out of earshot.

Kazuto rests his chin in his hand. "Oh man, now I'm curious. I guess we can always ask him next time we come here," he points out. Sutona shrugs and nods, and with that the two teens exit purgatory. A wave of exhaustion crashes into Kazuto as soon as he's back in the real world. He groans and stumbles, but manages to stay upright.

"Oh wow…" Sutona breaths out, leaning against a wall. "You're telling me you felt _this _crappy after you left the first time? How did you manage to stay conscious?" he asks.

Kazuto shrugged. "Willpower, more or less," he supplies.

Sutona groans and pushes off the wall, fighting to keep standing. "Okay… I can do this, just gimme a minute," he promises. Kazuto waits patiently, and before too long the two of them are making their way back to the dorm. "So, tell me man. Why are you so hyped up about doin' this? If you don't mind me askin'."

Kazuto is quick to respond. "Because it's right. You know better than most how bad the drug problem is at Nayamu. You can't possibly tell me you want things to stay as is."

Sutona shakes his head. "No, of course not," he replies quickly, then he looks to the side. "I guess… I'm just wondering if this is the best way to go about it, ya know? I mean, if all the guys who are abusin' now suddenly stop because we beat Vice, what's to stop 'em from coming back again?"

"Us." Kazuto stays simply.

Sutona looks at him. "Huh? What do you mean?"

Kazuto puts on his best smile, but it's still worn. "The first step is the most important. Once they all drop the habit, it's up to us to push them towards rehab so they don't make the same mistake again," he explains.

Sutona appears thoughtful. "Huh… I hadn't thought about it like that, but you have a point." The lazy grin reappears on his face, "Alright then, I can help you out in earnest now, so lets try our best to take down Vice." He extends a hand, looking at Kazuto expectantly.

He takes it.

"I wouldn't have it any other way…"

**A.N: Another chapter down! Sutona awakens in this one, though I'm sure most of you saw this coming a mile away. Also Iroh! He's basically the Morgana/Teddie of the group. I know some people might have a problem with him already knowing everything about the circumstances of his creation, but since both Teddie **_**and**_ **Morgana have the whole 'amnesiac hero' thing as a major part of their character, it would be more refreshing to do this instead. Also please, for the love of god, post a review. I know stories like this aren't very popular just based on their nature, but seeing actual support for my work really motivates me to keep writing. So do me a favour and just hit me with a 'good job' at the very least… please?**


	6. Inconveniences

**Persona 6 Original Flavor Chapter 6: Inconveniences**

As soon as the last bell of the day rings, Kazuto and Suton meet up and head into Purgatory.

Despite having only been here twice before, the feeling of the world shifting into Purgatory had become somewhat familiar. Almost immediately after they find themselves in the other world, a familiar figure slithers up and presents himself to the two of them. "You came back even sooner than I expected. Not that I'm complaining, of course," Iroh greeted with a smile.

Kazuto returned it. "Hey, Iroh-san. I'm glad you were able to find us so quickly. That means we can get this show on the road!" he cheered.

Sutona sighed. "I hope it doesn't doesn't take us too long. I still wanna get in my eight hours, ya know?"

The snake chuckled bemusedly at his words. "I promise not to take up too much of your time, Sutona-san," he reassures, before facing away from them and toward Vice's layer. "With everything now settled… let's begin our exploration!"

…

"Shit!" Sutona cried out, sent flying back by the shadow.

"Oh crap, Sutona! Iroh, can you go check on him while I hold this guy off?!" Kazuto asked, a ting of desperation in his voice.

"I'm on it!"

Vice's layer-as it turned out-wasn't going to be bested so easily.

All things considered, they hadn't been having _too_ rough a go of things. Most of the shadows they fought were dispatched with relative ease, but that hadn't stopped some from being a nuisance. Kazuto's Persona Benvolio was rather susceptible to curse spells, which most of the shadows in Vice's Layer _just so happened_ to be proficient with. He'd done his best to avoid them, but the skills that did hit really screwed him up and were a drain on Iroh's already limited healing pool.

There _was_ the consolation that most of the shadows who used those skills were also weak to his bless attacks, however. Because of that, their strategy had boiled down to 'strike first and don't give them the chance to attack'. That had its own set of drawbacks, however. One of which being that it went through Kazuto's supply of energy rather quickly, and since he also possessed healing spells that would be needed to keep them all alive, that wasn't very prudent.

At least there weren't many shadows that used electricity, that being Sutona's bane.

This shadow he was locking blades with didn't specialize in curse magic-thank god-but that didn't make it weak by any means. In fact, it was the strongest shadow Kazuto had come up against so far. The shadow-some kind of strange cat-girl dressed in a suit with very long, very sharp claws-shoved him back before making to stab Kazuto in the chest. Kazuto barely had the presence of mind to deflect the strike before he flung himself backward into a roll.

He quickly crossed his heart as he scrambled to his feet. "Benvolio, help me fight!" he called, and his Persona was by his side in less than a second. Benvolio charged forward and struck out with his rapier, but his stab was just barely turned away by the cat shadows claws. Of course, this left it distracted when Kazuto charged into it and struck with his spear, embedding it deeply into its side. It cried out in shock and pain, but Kazuto didn't let that stop him from pressing the advantage. He withdrew his spear and spun, planted himself behind the shadow and lashing out with his lance, slicing out it's tendons and dropping it to its knees.

He brought his spear up once more, ready to plunge it into the shadows head. "Wait!" it suddenly cried out, and Kazuto actually stops out of sheer surprise. "I don't wanna die! Can't we just talk this out or something, please!" she pleads.

"Talk this out? What do you mean by that?"

"Uh, Mono-chan? I don't mean to be a wet blanket, but why are you even givin' it the time of day?" his friend asks wearily.

"No, wait. I want to see where this goes," Iroh comments, and his words surprise Kazuto.

"Okay… um, it's not that I don't like talking, but I don't see how this is supposed to help us."

"You want help? Well, I can give you that! Money, items, I'll give you everything I have if you let me live!" the shadow declares.

"Wait, what? Don't you need all that stuff for, um, yourself?" Kazuto asks, and immediately feels strange for showing concern about a shadow.

"Oh, wow. You're really just a big softie, aren't you?" the shadow teases. "Hey! Wait a minute, that reminds me of something! I'm not a slave to Vice's will; I'm a creature that lives in the sea of humanity's souls! I am thou, thou art I! From now on, I'll live inside of your heart!" the shadow cheers.

"Hold on just a minute, the hell is that supposed to mean-" but Sutona is cut off. A very familiar looking pentagram suddenly burst to life underneath the shadow, and before Kazuto can think of any words the shadow transforms into a blue butterfly and zooms inside of his chest, directly where his heart would be.

For a second, everyone is silent.

"Um… what the hell just happened?" Sutona asked, sounding more genuinely curious than surprised.

"I have no idea! Iroh-san, do you know anything?" Kazuto asks.

"I'm just as lost as the two of you. Do you feel okay, Kazuto-san? After all, you're the one who's been affected," Iroh points out.

"I feel… fine, I guess? I'm not in pain or anything, if that's what you mean." If anything, he felt a little stronger, though he couldn't exactly explain why. It wasn't as if he were stronger in a tangible way, but he suddenly felt like a weight had been lifted from his mind. "Anyway… I guess we should keep moving on…?" Kazuto suggests, but hates himself for doing so. His limbs feel like wood.

"No." Sutona states firmly.

"Sutona-kun…?"

"I think we should pull out for today. I'm tired as shit, and I think you guys are too. Not to mention… I think we were too gung-ho about this."

"What do you mean, Sutona-san?" Iroh asks.

"I think I get what he's saying," Kazuto cuts in. "We're kinda under-equipped for this place right now. I mean, our weapons right now are fine, but they're still pretty weak. And what about medicine? Having some gauze and painkillers or whatever else would keep us from having to use our Persona's constantly and tire ourselves out," he explains.

"Exactly what I was tryin' to say, more or less," Sutona chirps, cupping his chin and nodding sagely.

"Hmm, you make a good point. I suppose we could head back now, we've made good progress anyway." Iroh relents, and the group of three start making their way back up.

"How can you tell?" Sutona asks.

"Well, for one. We're in an area of Vice's layer I've never seen before, meaning we've already made it further than I ever have on my own," Iroh supplies. He hesitates for a moment, something which Kazuto notices, before speaking again. "...And, one could also say I'm able to sense her presence, and determine how close she is to us from that."

"Hold on, you can _sense_ her?" Kazuto questions, and then his eyes widen in realization. "Can she sense you!?"

"The current travels both ways, yes," Iroh confirms.

"Why didn't you tell us this earlier, dude?" Sutona exclaims-well, as much as anybody with his lazy disposition can, anyway.

"I never considered it to be pressing information." he defended. "And even should you have known, would it really change anything? Vice is bound to notice our approach due to the sudden removing of the shadows keeping her safe, and you can't deny that you require my skills as much as I do yours," he huffed indignantly. Kazuto isn't sure how to react to the sudden shift in his deposition, but recognizes Iroh's point.

"He's got us dead to rights, there. Anyway, it's about time we get back to the real world anyway," Sutona points out.

Kazuto isn't about to reject a good night's sleep.

…

The next day, Kazuto finds himself standing outside of the nurses office after school.

He'd taken Sutona's words last night to heart, and decided that he wasn't going to enter Vice's layer again until he was confident in their equipment. Which was exactly why he found himself here. Maybe it wasn't the most high brow place to look, but surely the nurses office had to have some halfway decent medicine they could use for their raids.

"Here's hoping," he mumbled to himself with a sigh.

Kazuto pushed open the door and stepped inside, almost immediately grabbing the attention of the school's nurse. She was an older woman with sandy blonde hair cut rather short and a tired expression on her face. She regarded him flatly, her eyes slightly poking about the small reading glasses she wore. "What seems to be bothering you, Mr…?"

"Kazuto. Kazuto Okubyomono. Um… hi?" he vomits out. He winces and gets a strong desire to kick himself in the face. "A-anyway. I've been having this problem with my knee recently where it hurts for no real reason," he blurts out, saying literally the first thing that came to mind.

It wasn't a lie, at the very least, he'd actually had that problem when he was younger.

The nurse nodded and turned to the side, grabbing a clipboard from her desk before gesturing for Kazuto to sit on the bed to her right. Kazuto does so, the wrapping paper crinkling under his weight. _So far, so good,_ he thinks, but he still can't help but feel a little awkward. Doctors always made him feel uncomfortable. He isn't sure why, since he wasn't scared of them like one might be going to the dentist, but being in a doctor's office-or nurses office, in this case-always put him on edge.

"When did this start?" the nurse asked, dragging Kazuto out of his thoughts.

"Oh, um. About half a week ago," he explains. He furrows his brows in thought, before coming to a decision. _This is gonna sound suspicious, but I have to take the risk if I wanna get what I need. _"Do you have anything you could give me to help with the pain. Like… painkillers, or something?" he asks, already feeling the sweat build up on his brow.

The nurse's flat gaze somehow grows even flatter. "You want me to give you painkillers?"

Her tone of voice suggests he won't like what'll happen to him if he lies, but Kazuto knows he can't hope to explain the truth. "N-not necessarily. I just need something to help with my knee, that's all…" he supplies, and has to force himself from slapping his forehead to his palm.

The nurse remains unamused. "Uh-huh. And it has to be some form of opiate, right?"

"That's not what I was saying at all!" Kazuto denies frantically, waving his arms in front of him.

"You didn't have too, kid. I'm not an idiot. Look, whatever your junkie friends might've told you, it's not true. I'm not some secret dealer or anything like that. I may not give a shit about the students here, but that doesn't mean I'm gonna help them kill themselves," she explains bluntly. "Now why don't you scurry along before I decide to get a hold of principal Serizawa and tell him what happened here," she threatens, her voice low.

Kazuto audible gulps and freezes. He came here so he could help with Purgatory's exploration, and he really didn't want to come back empty handed. But… the nurse sounded serious about her threat, and being thrown in jail because of a misunderstanding would throw off their exploration way worse than not getting some medicine. Kazuto sighs and stands up, walking out of the office disappointed. "It really isn't like that…" he mumbles under his breath as he moves down the hallway.

_Oh well… maybe Sutona will have pulled through with something_.

**...**

As luck would have it, he had.

After meeting up with him and explaining his dilemma, Sutona had brightened Kazuto's mood when he said he may have found a solution to their little weapon problem. "For once, being buddies with a bunch of stoners helped me out. I know this one guy who has a _huge_ collection of old weapons. And I'm not talking models, I mean like real ass swords and spears and shit," he explained as they walked down the streets of Misato.

"That's great and all, but I don't think your buddy will be super open to the idea of just giving us his stuff, ya know," Kazuto points out.

Sutona supplies his lazy grin. "Don't worry, Mono-chan, I thought of that myself," he assures. "I mean, he's gotta be getting his stuff from somewhere, right? So I'll just ask him to hook us up with his guy. It shouldn't be too hard."

Kazuto tilts his head to the side curiously. "Well, you're the expert. I'll leave it to you."

Sutona snorts amusedly and looks forward. "Oh hey, there's his place now," he says, pointing at a modest looking two floor house. Kazuto and Sutona quickly make their way over there, and Sutona rings the doorbell a second later.

"Just a sec!" a male voice calls. Not long after, the door is opened and a boy around their age with dark skin, black hair and a pair of black glasses appears. His expression brightens when he sees them. "Oh hey, Sutona! What's going on, man? You lookin' to hang out?" he greets enthusiastically.

Sutona sports the same lazy grin he always does. "In a sense, yeah. We were hoping to ask you about something," he explains.

"Sure, come on in. By the way, who's your friend?" he asks, gesturing to Kazuto.

"I'm Kazuto Okubyomono. Nice to meet you."

"I just call him Mono-chan," Sutona interjects. "This is Tokuma-chan. He's a pretty cool guy when he's not being a total nerd," he jokes.

"Ha. At least I have something to do during the day except chill out and get high," Tokuma fires back.

"Ouch."

Sutona complaints are soon forgotten when Kazuto steps inside Tokuma's room. It's a small space with all the happenings that make a bedroom hospitable, but the walls are lined with various types of weapons. Swords, spears, axes and daggers hang off every corner of the wall, a collections of scythe's sit off to one corner and he can even see what looks to be a gun safe in another. Even more impressive is that Kazuto gets the impression that this isn't even _half_ of what Tokuma's packing.

"Woah…" Kazuto exhales.

"Impressive, huh? I've been collecting stuff like this for about seven years now, and as you can see I've amassed quite the collection," Tokuma brags.

"I'll say… how do you even afford all this stuff?" Kazuto asks.

"Tokuma-chan _kinda_ comes from money. It's not a big deal or anything, but that's how he's managed to form a collection that could make any weapons enthusiast mouth water," Sutona explained.

"Thanks for spelling it out for me," Tokuma says dryly. "Anyway, what did you guys wanna talk about?"

"It's actually related to your little hobby, Tokuma-chan," Sutona starts, speaking before Kazuto could think of a decent story. "My buddy Mono-chan here is actually an enthusiast like yourself, but he moved out here recently, and he doesn't know where to get any good stuff, ya know? I figured you were the best guy to come too when it came to that stuff, so will ya help him out?"

Tokuma turns to Kazuto, surprised. "Oh, a fellow enthusiast, huh?"

Kazuto's eyes widen and he nods frantically. "Uh-huh! I really like the designs of old weapons, ya know? And the history behind them is _so_ interesting," he blurts, doing his best to follow through on the story Sutona had made. Tokuma looks deep in thought, and Kazuto is worried that he might've said something wrong. A silence stretches throughout the room, and before too long Kazuto finds himself incredibly tense. _Did he see through our story? _he wonders. _What does it mean for us if he did? I mean, he'll probably think I'm pretty suspicious, but I don't think you can take something like that to the police, right?_

"Ya know, you guys just reminded me of something I've been wanting to do for awhile…"

"Oh yeah? What's that?" Sutona asks.

Tokuma makes his way out of his room before responding. "Follow me, I've gotta show you something," he calls back. Kazuto and Sutona share a look, but follow him before too long. Tokuma leads them through his modest house before opening a door and stepping into what appears to be the garage. When Kazuto steps in after him, he realizes his previous assumption was correct. Tokuma's garage is somehow even more filled to bursting with weaponry than his room.

_No wonder the car's parked in the driveway…_

"This is… insane," Kazuto states simply, gazing at the mountains of weapons in front of him.

"Holy shit… you're an even bigger nerd than I thought you were," Sutona comments.

"Bite me. Anyway, I didn't bring you here just to show off."

Kazuto turns back to their host. "Oh, right. You said you were wanting to do something with us, right?"

"Phrasing," Sutona chirps.

"I'll try to ignore that in favor of answering your question," Tokuma mentions offhandedly. "So here's the deal. Ever since I started really getting into collecting, it's been a dream of mine to run an antique store where I can sell my weapons, ya know? Thing is, a niche business like that is pretty hard to start up, even with my parents support…" he leads off.

"I'm sorry to hear that, but I'm not quite sure what you're getting at," Kazuto explains.

Tokuma turns to him. "It's pretty simple, really. I buy a lot of my weapons in bulk, so I have a lot of spares. I'll totally sell you them… for a fair price, of course. If there's something in particular you want that I don't already have or can't sell I'd be willing to buy that for you, too."

"So you get the money to help start your business and Mono-chan gets a head-start on his collection. It's a pretty sweet deal, if you ask me," Sutona comments, and Kazuto can't help but agree.

"Sure. I'm just looking to start my collection, so if I can help you out in the process, it's a win-win, ya know?"

Tokuma smiles. "Awesome. Let me show you what I got."

…

Kazuto returns to the dorm in noticeably better spirits.

He may have struck out when it came to medicine, but waltzing into his room with what he could already tell was a noticeably better spear lead to him marking today as a collective win. Tokuma had provided him and Sutona cases in order to properly conceal their weapons and avoid any unnecessary drama. Keeping them in the dorms was still a risk, but they didn't really have any other options.

Kazuto yawned deeply. _Still, I'm dog tired after everything today. Time to get some shut eye._ His changed into his sleeping wear and flopped on the bed. After his head hit the pillow, it wasn't too long before he drifted off.

A checkered path leading to a bright blue door.

_Back here again, huh?_ Kazuto thinks dryly as the now familiar surroundings of the Velvet Room come into focus. "Igor. I didn't think you'd be speaking with me anytime soon; is there some kind of problem?" Kazuto asks.

"Not at all," the bizarre looking man tells him. "You are actually making great strides in your journey. I have called you here because it is now the appropriate time for me to explain my role, and that of your allies."

Kazuto is confused before he takes a moment to think it over. "That's right. You kept mentioning you would try to assist me in any way you could. I'm guessing I'm about to be given the full rundown on that now?"

"Indeed. I apologize for keeping you in the dark for so long, but I needed to be certain of what path you would choose to take before I disclosed all my abilities."

"I guess that makes sense," Kazuto replied, but he doesn't really have the best grasp on what Igor is saying.

He doesn't seem to mind much though, and continues speaking. "I'm sure you noticed that you've awakened to your true power. That of the wild card," Igor intones.

"Wild card… do you mean what happened with that shadow I absorbed?"

Igor nods. "Correct. As I said before, you possess the power of the wild card; the unique ability to wield multiple Persona's within yourself. By fusing two or more of these Persona's together, you will create even stronger Persona's that will aid you in your quest."

"Fusing Persona's? How am I supposed to do that?" Kazuto wonders.

"That-" Igor states, derailing Kazuto's train of thought. "-Would be where my assistant and I's roles come into play."

Kazuto directs his attention to them. "Wait, what? So you're saying you guys are gonna help me with this fusing Persona's thing?"

"Correct," says Igor. "That is the service we shall provide you; I trust you to make good use of it."

"Of course," Kazuto replies automatically. "Thanks for everything as always, Igor. I guess I should get right to it, then. I only have two now but-"

"I wouldn't do that if I were you," Felicia suddenly cuts in, startling Kazuto. He had honestly forgotten about her presence due to how silent she usually was. "The Persona's you fuse and collect can only get so strong. That's why your allies are so important; they're one Persona will grow way stronger than any you have," she explains. "Thing is, your original Persona isn't like that. It'll keep getting stronger and stronger, so you probably shouldn't fuse it away."

Kazuto nods slowly. He doesn't really understand what Felicia's saying, but he's sure he'll get it eventually. "Alright, I'll keep that in mind, then." His gaze slides over the two Velvet Room attendants again. "Well, if there's nothing else I supposed I'll-"

"There is one more thing I'd like you to be made aware of," Igor intones, and Kazuto sighs and deflates. Despite his unchanging facial expression, he feels like Igor's laughing at him. "You have started to gain the trust of like-minded individuals who share your goal. These bonds… these social links, if you will, are yet another another strength you possess. Be sure to nurture these bonds you have formed; they may yet prove to be your salvation, depending on where you end up…"

"The bonds I've formed, huh?" Kazuto parrots, closing his eyes. He takes a moment to think on Igor's words, and several faces flash through his mind. Sutona, Namba, Iroh and Chiyo… he's only known them for a couple weeks, and he already can't imagine them leaving his life anytime soon. Heck, even Tokuma! He hardly knew the younger boy, but considering he was now their supplier he'll probably get to know him pretty well. Not to sound too self-indulgent, but Kazuto was like a sun. Gradually, he'd managed to amass a collection of people who revolved around him, one way or another. And already, he can see that sphere of friends growing far beyond what he expected.

Kazuto opens his eyes. "You're right. I'll deepen these bonds I've formed and be all the better for it."

**A.N: I know this chapter ends in kind of a weird place, but the content I planned on covering after really would serve better as the beginning of the next chapter. As always, please read and review. Every little bit of attention this story gets is very fulfilling to me.**


	7. The 13th Arcana

**Persona 6 Original Flavor Chapter 7: The 13th Arcana**

"Kazuto Okubyomono, please come to the nurses office; Kazuto Okubyomono, to the nurses office."

The call had come suddenly from the schools speakers during Kazuto's third period class, and honestly? He thinks _he's _more surprised than anyone else at the announcement. When he stands to leave class Chiyo looks at him worriedly, so Kazuto gives her his warmest smile in an attempt to calm her nerves.

As he starts to make his way towards the nurses office, he can't help but get curious. What was the reason behind the call? His finger instinctively traces his throat, but the cut he'd received from Heiji was closed and scabbed over now. _I didn't even take that to the nurse the nurse when it happened, so why would they be concerned now? _he wonders. Then, a thought crashes into him like a freight train, and he immediately halts his progress in shock. His talk with the nurse yesterday! She must've told mr. Serizawa! Wait, no, that can't be right…

...Can it?

If it is true, what does that mean for Kazuto? _Drugs are a pretty serious offense in school. I mean, yeah, I didn't actually do anything illegal, but I could still get in serious trouble for just being under suspicion._ Crap, this isn't good. If he'd done something to piss the nurse off and make her suspicious of him, it would cause serious problems for him and Sutona's exploration of Purgatory and Vice's layer. The hopeful part of him tries to remind him that it could be nothing, but he's having a hard time listening to reason right now.

_Uggggggghhhhh! Come on, Kazuto, chin up! _

He's faced trails much worse than this in his life. He thinks back before Nayamu high, in 2014, when it had been a struggle to get out of bed each morning. _My memoir… _it was the reason he was here, and yet he had all but forgotten about it. Writing was the only thing that had kept him going back then, but he hadn't put pen to paper once since he got here. Instead, he'd thrown himself headfirst into a problem that was way bigger than just him and joined a drama club. _When did Nayamu high change from an amazing opportunity to a problem I needed to fix?_

But really, the answer was obvious.

Ever since that night… Kazuto couldn't find it in himself to turn the other way. It just wasn't possible for him to stand by and watch people in pain. If he could, he'd do everything in his power to prevent that pain from ever reaching anyone. That same pain Kazuto feels every second of every day…

_I can't let this stop me._

It's not a groundbreaking revelation. It's more like a vocalization of something he'd known all along. He was getting worked up over some random call that could prove to be about nothing… it was honestly pretty sad. _And even if this is something serious, I'll find a way past it and continue exploring Purgatory. The people of this school-just like everyone else-need to be protected from pain, and I'm the one who'll do it!_

…

Kazuto's entrance in the nurse's office feels a lot more awkward than it probably should.

His little soul-searching moment a few minutes ago may have brought him some peace of mind, but it didn't change the fact that he _really _didn't want to get expelled. Upon taking a seat, he's met the same flat look the nurse had given him the first time he was here. Kazuto can only chuckle sheepishly in response. On the bright side, Mr. Serizawa wasn't anywhere in sight, which meant he either wasn't in as much trouble as he thought or the principal was lurking somewhere else.

"You're not in trouble, so you can drop that worried expression," the older woman said, cutting through his haze of thoughts like a hot knife through butter.

"I-I'm not?" Kazuto asks stupefied.

"No, you're not. Believe me, I'm just as surprised as you are. When I told Mr. Serizawa about your little visit, I was expecting you to get a little speech on not taking advantage of authority figures, at the very least. But instead-" she tosses something at him, and Kazuto barely has the presence of mind to catch it. When he looks down at the object in his hands, he realizes it's a bottle of painkillers. "He told me you weren't bullshiting me about your injury, and that I should give you this to help with it. If I'm being blunt, I'm not sure if I believe it, but far be it for me to question the principal," she rants.

"Oh, um, well… thanks. I really need this for… my knee," Kazuto responds awkwardly. He just doesn't know how he's supposed to act around this lady.

"Whatever. You're free to go, Okubyomono," she tells him. Kazuto nods and makes to leave, but abruptly stops in the doorway when he remembers something.

"Hold up a second. I just remembered that you've never actually told me your name." Kazuto's comment seems to catch her off guard, because her eyes widen in perceptively.

"Huh? My name? Oh, it's… Shizu Tamanaha."

Kazuto smiles and turns around, bowing to her. "Thank you for everything, Tamanaha-san."

Shizu eyes him skeptically as he rises. "What are you really planning on doing with those drugs, kid?" she asks, her tone serious.

Kazuto stares at her for a long time. He knows he can't possibly hope to explain to Shizu why he needs these, but he'll probably be coming back here for more stuff in the future. With that being the case, he doesn't want their relationship to be so aggressive. _How about a half-truth? _"You totally won't believe me, but I actually need these to help me _stop_ Nayamu's drug problem, and whatever other problems it has," he explains.

Shizu, however, only eyes him flatly. "You're right, I don't believe you." She sighs a suffering sigh. "Get the hell out of my office, Okubyomono." Kazuto chuckles dryly and complies. _Ah well, at least I tried,_ he tells himself. However, as he's walking down the halls to his classroom, a more pressing thought crosses his mind.

_Why would principal Serizawa let me get my hands on these?_

…

Once again, Kazuto is eating lunch by himself.

He knows this really should be too surprising since he only has three real friends, but the solitude still leaves him feeling cranky. He _likes_ talking with people, and after banging his head against the brick wall that was Shizu Tamanaha, he was praying for a pleasant conversation.

"It's been a bit, Kazuto-kun." As if specifically to contradict him, Chiyo slides into the seat adjacent him with a soft smile.

"Chiyo-chan! I wasn't expecting you."

"I suppose that's my own fault. I've been a bit busy," she explains.

This leaves Kazuto curious, "Really? Are you a member of student council or something?"

This amuses her. "No, nothing like that. It was mostly personal matters," she elaborates. Kazuto nods dutifully, and after that things descend into silence. Just as Kazuto is getting ready to say something to fill the void, Chiyo continues. "I noticed you've been spending a lot of time with that third year. I think his name was… Nonkina?"

"Oh! you mean Sutona-kun?" Kazuto questions.

Chiyo nods. "Yes, I believe so."

Kazuto takes a bite of his lunch to momentarily avoid answering the question. He has to be careful here; if he lets slip something important, it might make Chiyo worry and come after him the same way Sutona did. _Just keep things casual, this doesn't have to get tense if I don't let it. _"Oh, yeah. He's so laid-back it's alarming sometimes, but he's a good guy."

Chiyo looks concerned, like she's not quite sure if she should say something. It instantly makes Kazuto panic. Did he say too much without realizing it?! Chiyo speaks up before he can dwell on it for too long. "I don't mean to offend you but… I'm not sure Nonkina-kun is someone you want to be associating with."

Kazuto tilts his head to the side. "What do you mean by that?" he asks, genuinely curious.

"Hm… it could all be based in speculation, but I've heard Nonkina-kun has a… penchant, for inebriation. Like our mutual friend Iseri." the bitterness in her voice is so potent that it genuinely surprises Kazuto.

"That's not very fair. I mean, you said yourself that it could just be baseless rumours." To be fair, it isn't in this case, but Sutona still doesn't deserve to be judged like that.

"You're right in that regard. But if it is true, then Nonkina-kun might be dangerous," she says it with an edge in her voice, but Kazuto can see past it that Chiyo's genuinely concerned for him. With that in mind, he sighs and tries to calm his temper. Getting angry wasn't gonna help anyone.

"I'm sorry if I made you worry, Chiyo-chan, but Sutona-kun's not a bad guy. He's been really helpful wit-" He forces himself to shut up, eyes wide. He's officially said too much. All Kazuto can hope now is that Chiyo somehow didn't notice.

"Hm? Were you about to say something more?"

...As if he were that lucky.

"U-uh, no! Not at all! I was just running my mouth without thinking. Kinda like I am right now, ehehe…" he stammers. _Smooth, Kazuto…_

Chiyo's eye's narrow and her gaze hardens. "Kazuto-kun… I'm aware we don't know each other that well, but I still don't want to see you hurt. If something is the matter, please tell me," she stresses, resting a hand on his arm.

It's hard for him to keep a somewhat neutral expression on his face. Kazuto doesn't like lying, especially to people like Chiyo who are just trying to look out for him. Still, he can't afford putting her in danger; she was already at a disadvantage compared to most with her disability, the last thing she needed was more danger. At the same time, he can tell Chiyo would see through any lie he tried to tell. _Another half-truth then, like with Tamanaha-san…_

"Okay, okay, you're right. Sutona-kun is helping me with something, but it's not really something I can explain. I promise we're not in any danger, though."

"Is this why you keep disappearing as soon as classes end?" Chiyo questions, surprising him.

"Huh? How would you know that?" He asks in turn. Though really, he probably shouldn't be surprised. I mean, this was the girl who was stalking him the second day of school.

Chiyo chuckles at his expense, that now familiar smirk adorning her features. "It's hard not to notice. Sometimes I think you're the only student at Nayamu high who moves like they have somewhere to be," she tells him. Kazuto's not sure what she means with that comment, but it gets him thinking anyway. It wasn't hard to notice the atmosphere of apathy that seemed to surround and suffocate Nayamu high like a polluted lake. _I wonder… could this be Vice's influence? Iroh and Igor both told me Purgatory has an effect on the real world, could this be what they meant?_

"Kazuto-kun…" Chiyo says, bringing Kazuto's attention back to her. "What are you and Sutona-kun hoping to achieve? It shouldn't be a problem to tell me if it's not dangerous, right?"

Kazuto swallows nervously. Chiyo's heavy gaze is weighing down on him like a boulder. "Y-you have a point there…"

"So?" she asks expectantly. Her face is the picture of innocence.

Kazuto can't answer, nor can he think up and excuse fast enough to get him out of this.

Chiyo's eyelids slide shut, but Kazuto can still see the hurt in her expression. "I knew it. The two of you _are _doing something dangerous…" her eyes snapped open, yet her gaze is more pleading this time. "I may not know you very well… but I do know one thing. Your the type of person who can't look away from a bad situation," she rants, and every word feels like a pin in Kazuto's heart. "I'm certain you and Nonkina-kun have honest intentions… so please, let me help you!"

Kazuto leans back, surprised. Of all the ways he'd imagined this going, this wasn't one of them. Still… "I'm sorry. I can't let you do that."

Chiyo pulls back, hurt. "And why not…?" she asks, and for the first time since he's met her she looks genuinely lost.

"Because I care about you. I'm not gonna let you-or anyone else-get hurt, no matter what. So please… let me handle this…"

Chiyo looks like she still has something to say, but Kazuto stands before she can. As he walks away, he can't help but think one thing.

_So much for not hurting anyone, mr. shield against pain…_

…

She was being left behind… again.

Chiyo felt frozen to her spot, and she finds herself unable to do anything more than sit eerily still and stare forward. Eating, blinking, even breathing seem almost unnecessary compared to the scene replaying itself in her head. Surprisingly, it wasn't her conversation with Kazuto just now that she finds herself revisiting, but a memory from long before her time in Nayamu.

"_I'm sorry. I can't let you do that."_

Kazuto's words looped through her head like a broken record, and it hurt a little more each time. Eventually, the bell signaling the end of lunch sounds off, and as if her body is being drawn by strings, Chiyo mechanically makes her way back to class. She hadn't known the odd looking blonde haired boy long-she had said as much herself on multiple occasions-but that didn't change the fact that he was important.

Chiyo didn't interact with many people at Nayamu, not that anyone could fault her for that. People couldn't change what they were, and the people inhabiting this school were the type that suffered from that the most. Kazuto-by contrast-had caught her attention from the very beginning. On his first day at Nayamu he'd broken up a fight everyone else was content to sit and watch, simply because he didn't want to see people get hurt. The people in Chiyo's life weren't like that, and the students of Nayamu certainly weren't either.

That was why she'd wanted to get closer to him. Chiyo was tainted-her missing arm was a constant reminder of that-but that didn't mean she couldn't stand behind him and assist in his efforts.

"_I'm sorry. I can't let you do that."_

Of course, he'd denied her that possibility. Why? In his own words it was because he cared about her, and now Chiyo realizes the mistake in her thinking. Kazuto… was self-sacrificing. His casual disregard for his social status in favor of doing the right thing was evidence enough of that. It only made sense that he wouldn't want to involve her if he thought whatever he was doing was dangerous. _But if that's the case… why involve Nonkina-kun?_

Chiyo didn't tend to pay attention to the rumour mill, but she'd heard the name Sutona Nonkina come up on one or two occasions. In all honesty, he seemed like the typical Nayamu high student. Lazy, easy-going and with such a casual disregard for his grades it was a miracle he hadn't been expelled. He didn't seem like the type of person you'd involved in something dangerous.

And yet… Kazuto had explicitly involved him.

_Why is that?_ She can't help but wonder. Chiyo very much doubted he was just sexist, so why trust Nonkina over her? It just didn't make any sense. The thought made her brows crease. _Something isn't right here…_

Chiyo's gaze drifts, inevitably, to Kazuto. _What are you hiding, Kazuto-kun?_

…

When school ends, Kazuto meets up with Sutona and tells him the good news.

"Sweet. Now we can head back into Purgatory without worrying about ourselves too much," he says with a lazy grin on his face.

"I was thinking the same thing. C'mon, let's go meet up with Iroh and tell him the good news." Sutona nods along and the two start walking. The route to Purgatory is ingrained into Kazuto's brain now that it only takes them a few minutes to arrive at the entrance to the other world. They use their power and the world shifts, drifted once again into the grotesque surroundings of Purgatory.

"Huh? Where's Iroh?" Sutona questions, his voice bringing Kazuto's head out of the clouds. He looks around them and observes that-yes-their reptilian compatriot isn't waiting for them like usual. As Kazuto is looking around in hopes to find him, he notices something very unexpected. Sitting at the ass end of the alleyway they always spawn in is the Velvet door Kazuto has come to associate with the similarly colored room. Standing beside said door is Felicia, her chocolate brown face greeting him eyes so lazy they rival Sutona's.

She's sucking on some sort of sweet as if being in this demonic other world isn't any different than the surroundings of the Velvet room. Then again, Kazuto doesn't know much about that place, so maybe this isn't very out of the ordinary for her. "Felicia-san, what are you doing here?" he asks, his search for Iroh momentarily abandoned.

She runs her mouth over the sucker in her mouth a couple times before answering. "Here to help you, of course. It would be really sucky if you could only contact us in your dreams, so my master decided to put a few entrances to the Velvet room in your world, including this one," she explains curtly."

"Huh. Well, thanks."

"No prob. You need my master for anything right now?" she asks, returning the sucker to her mouth almost immediately after answering.

"Not really. I still only have the two Persona's… Hey, wait a minute! If you're just chillin' in the real world like this, won't everybody else be able to see you?!" He exclaims, the thought crashing into him like a train.

Felicia shakes her head. "Only if I let 'em."

Hearing this immediately calms him down. Kazuto has no idea how he could possibly hope to explain Igor and the Velvet room on top of all the other nonsense. "Alright, well… that's convenie-"

"Kami-san! How the hell did you get here!" the abrupt declaration from Sutona makes Kazuto jump out of his skin and turn to face his friend. What he sees, might just be the worst possible outcome he could've imagined.

"Uh… you might want to deal with that," Felicia comments.

_Yeah, no shit,_ he almost finds himself saying. Standing near the end of the alley was one Chiyokanda Kami, her expression way more neutral than someone's ought to be when faced with a place like Purgatory. Kazuto's stomach instantly sinks upon seeing her. The whole reason he'd told her off earlier today was to avoid this! Now not only was she in danger, but he has to try to find some way to explain away Purgatory.

At least Iroh had managed to find his way back to them.

"Nonkina-? And Kazuto-kun? I saw you enter this alleyway and followed along, but then the world suddenly distorted and… I-I'm sorry-where am I right now?" she asks uncertainty; it seems the gravity of the situation has finally caught up with her.

"Back up a second. You were following us? Why?" Sutona asks, his voice harsher than Kazuto's ever heard it.

Kazuto steps forward and sighs. "Please don't antagonize her like that Sutona-kun, this is my fault." He turns to Chiyo's anxious face, his brows creasing in worry. "You came here because you were worried about me right?" he asks softly.

"...Yes," Chiyo respond, her voice just as quiet. "After I learned you were involved in something dangerous, I couldn't bring myself to just stand by. If there's something you feel you need to do, then I want to help you!" she declares. Kazuto is speeches, he's never heard Chiyo speak with such emotion before.

"...Why, Chiyo-chan? I told you I didn't want you to get hurt," he replies lamely, unable to think of something else to say.

"Because I care about you," she parrots, throwing his words back at him.

...Dammit. How was he possibly supposed to convince her to leave well enough alone. He'd only kept Sutona along the first because he hadn't been aware of the danger Purgatory and shadows brought. Now, however, he was _very _aware. That samurai shadow had almost killed him, and he didn't have the same disadvantages Chiyo would have in a fight.

"Damn dude, you move fast. I didn't think anyone could just show up and nail Kami-san like that, but you surprise me once again," Sutona comments, whatever serious mood had been there previously evaporating in an instant.

"W-wait, what?! It's not like that at all!" Kazuto shrieks

"I'll have to ask you not to make scandalous remarks like that in the future," Chiyo remarks, her harsh tone a lot less threatening with the barely visible blush adorning her cheeks.

"Quiet down, will you! This _really _isn't the best time for this!" Iroh roars, grabbing everyone's attention.

"Um, you're the only one being loud, dude," Sutona observes.

"E-excuse me, is that a talking snake?" Chiyo asks trepidatiously.

"We can do introductions later! Right now, we all need to move," Iroh grounds out, visibly frustrated for the first time since Kazuto's known him.

"I don't understand. What's so urgent, Iroh-san?"

The snake turns to him, fear visible in his eyes. "I-I'm sorry. I went venturing into Vice's layer on my own-"

"Are you for real? Why would you do that without us?" Sutona berates.

"You don't understand! If we don't leave now Vice will… will…" Whatever Iroh was going to say is drowned out by the pain that erupts from Kazuto's spine when something crashes into him. He cries out and topples to the ground, rolling a few times before coming to a stop at Chiyo's feet. He looks up to find the disturbing form of Vice flanked by two shadows. One resembles and anthropomorphized owl while the other looks more akin to a lady wearing a 'sexy bat' cosplay costume.

"No, please continue. I'm open to suggestions," Vice taunts, smugness radiating from her tone.

"Kazuto-kun! Are you alright?!" Chiyo exclaims, moving to help him into a sitting position. A green light flashes over him, and whatever pain he might've been feeling evaporates.

"He'll be fine. It seems we have no other choice; we'll have to fight if we want to make it out of here!" Iroh declares, already moving to engage the shadows.

"What an effin' pain in the ass… guess I'll help too. Mono-chan, you watch over Chiyo, okay!" Sutona calls back as he draws his nunchucks and rushes into battle. Kazuto is about to protest, but the reason for his benching becomes apparent when the strange lady shadow launches a burst of demonic red energy from her palm. It seems these shadows specialized in curse magic, which he had a weakness too. Chiyo would already need to be supervised so she wouldn't get hurt, so it really only made sense to put him in charge of that.

"Help me out, Kitsune!" Sutona called, crossing his heart and summoning his Persona.

"W-what's going on, Kazuto-kun. I don't understand…" Chiyo breathed, as if she could barely find the will to speak. He brings himself to a stand and pushes her behind him.

"I promise I'll explain everything later, just stay behind me for now!" She nods weakly and concedes, moving to stand behind Kazuto as the battle rages on. Vice herself doesn't seem to be participating at all, but then again she might not even need to. Her shadows are more than holding their own against Sutona and Iroh. The former uses Kitsune to launch a burst of pressurized wind at the owl-man's chest, but he just walks right through it.

"That enemy is immune to your wind attacks. Find something else, Sutona-san!" cried Iroh.

"Ah, what? This is some major bullshit." Despite his grumbling, Sutona charges back into the fray, swinging at the shadow with a flurry of blows. Iroh isn't fairing much better. He hasn't even gotten hit yet, but his psychokinetic attacks hardly faze the other shadow. His friends are far from out of the fight, but if things keep continuing as they are, they might be in some real trouble. _They kept me out of the fight because of Benvolio's weakness, but he's not the only Persona I have!_

Kazuto crosses his heart, and the familiar feeling of summoning a Persona rushes through his body. Words he previously hadn't known come to the forefront of his mind. "Nekomata!" he cries, and the shadow he'd absorbed before burst to life behind him.

"Woah, that's new," Sutona observes.

"Another Persona! That shouldn't be possible!"

The words of his allies are barely heard by Kazuto, as he sends his new Persona into the fray. "Burn them to ash!" he cries, and Nekomata douses the owl-man shadow in a blanket of fire. It let forth a primal wial and collapsed to its knees. "Alright, I think I found the shadows weakness. Leave this one to me, guys!" Kazuto cheers.

"You won't hear me complaining. Let's move, Iroh," Sutona comments, disengaging and rushing to the snake's side. They immediately launch into battle. Sutona keeps it busy with a constant barrage of nunchuck strikes, and Iroh attacks with his fangs and Ghandi anytime an opportunity presents itself.

"What in the world…" Chiyo mutters, breathless.

Oh, right. He'd almost forgotten about her in the chaos. Being careful to keep Chiyo behind him, Kazuto attacks with Nekomata. The cat-girl Persona slices at the shadow with her fangs, but the attacks are easily avoided. Kazuto grits his teeth to avoid swearing. Normally he'd assist his Persona physically to break through the shadows defences, but that's not an option right now. _I guess I just through out a fire attack and pray it hits._

Just as he's about to do that, Chiyo shouts "Hey!" so loud that it startles him. He makes to ask her why she just randomly screamed, but then he realizes the shadows attention is drawn to her too. "Again! Agi!" Kazuto hollers, Nekomata obeying his command. A burst of fire ignites the shadow, and just like before it falls to its knees writhing in pain. He's not close enough to finish it off normally, so Kazuto tries something risky. He hurls his spear forward like a javelin-and whether it be luck, skill, or some combination of the two-it strikes its target head-on and the shadow dissipates into nothing.

Kazuto breaths out a sigh of relief before turning to Chiyo. "Thanks for the assis-" Sutona's body crashes into him before he can finish. The two of them roll over each other like a human boulder before slamming into a wall. A scream escapes his lips before he can stop himself; he's almost certain he's broken his back, and poor Sutona isn't fairing much better.

"Nonkina-kun! Kazuto-kun! Are you alright?!" Chiyo exclaims, bending down and taking hold of Sutona, moving him off of Kazuto and upright.

"Argh. Thanks, Chiyo-san. We'll be good in a second," Sutona reassures. Kazuto brings forth Benvolio and casts media. Already he can feel his broken bones mending together, but he's far from back to one-hundred percent. He gaze falls back to the fight, where Iroh just barely slithers past a curse attack to chomp on the sexy bat-lady shadow. Kazuto thanks god for small miracles when he sees the shadow disappear into nothing.

"Oh wow," Vice intones, and her voice sends shivers down his spine. He'd legimately forgotten she was here. There was no possible way they could beat her like this. Even if she was only as strong as the last two shadows they'd fought, the three of them were half-dead. Kazuto honestly wasn't even sure he could stand up. "I thought you'd just grabbed up a couple weaklings, but it seems that you somehow managed to snag a couple decent fighters. Pity they still aren't strong enough to handle… this!"

Vice raises one hand, and a large black puddle appears on the ground. It sudders for a couple seconds before bursting open. The figure that emerges from it is a grotesque monster who's very appearance makes Kazuto want to vomit. A blob of mush a sickly green in color, with needles and bottles of alcohol bursting from it like a collection of hideous, bulbous warts. "Ah, dude. That's nasty six ways to sunday," Sutona grumbled.

"...What?"

"Forget it. I think I hit my head to hard," Sutona ground out, struggling to a stand. Kazuto makes to follow, but a hand on his shoulder stops him.

"Just… hold on for a second, will you. I don't understand anything that's happening, but you're hurt, Kazuto-kun. You all are," she says louder, grabbing all of their attention. "There's no point to continue fighting, it would be best if we retreat," she pleads. Kazuto sighs heavily, fatigue weighing heavily on him, but then he smiles at her, doing his damndest to try and reassure this girl who had already managed to worm her way into his heart.

"Don't get me wrong, if this were any other situation I'd be totally with you, Kami-san." Sutona states, his usual lazy drawl a familiar comfort for Kazuto. It made him think his friend hadn't given up hope yet. "Fighting is such a pain in the ass already, and I'm starting to come down, too," he grumbles, and Kazuto sweat dropped at the blunt admission. "But…" he leads off.

"But… it's not quite that simple," Iroh continues, a bemused smile on his face. "We've all decided to take down Vice, not just to save your school, but for humanity as well! And now-though unintentional it may be-we've been giving an opportunity to do so on a silver platter! We can't just pass it up! Even if we are injured…"

"No, more like _because _we're injured," Kazuto cuts in, taking over for Iroh. Chiyo's released her hold on him now, so he's finally able to bring himself to a shaky stand. "This doesn't exactly have to do with the other guys, but I once made a promise to myself. A promise that I wouldn't let anyone suffer, not if I could do something about it! Right now, the students at Nayamu high are suffering because Vice is influence them to indulge in some nasty stuff. The thought of it makes me sick… so I can't let her keep getting away with it!" he declared, eyes burning with determination.

Sutona lets out an exasperated sigh as he hands Kazuto his previously thrown spear. "That was pretty lame, Mono-chan. This isn't an anime…" Kazuto just laughs and takes back his spear, brandishing it before him.

Vice yawns loudly, a sound which draws the attention of Kazuto, Sutona and Iroh all in one. "That was a neat speech and all, but I'm getting kind of board, so can get this over with?" she asks nonchalantly. Not waiting for their response, she points at them, and the grotesque shadow lumbers forward.

They drop into a fighting stance, and Kazuto is quick to dull out orders at the de-facto leader. "We can't have anyone on the sidelines this time, but I trust Chiyo to look after herself. Iroh, I want you to play support and keep Sutona-kun and I in the fight."

"Consider it done."

"Great. I'll take the thing head on and keep it's attention. Sutona-kun, I want you to strike from behind, the side, and basically anywhere it lets it's guard down."

"When I'm already so beat? You're one hell of a slave driver, Mono-chan," Sutona complained. Kazuto didn't respond, he knew Sutona would back him up. With that down, they charged forward with a battle cry. Before Kazuto can get in front of it, the shadow spews a line of sickly green sludge from its mouth. He dives to the side, avoiding the attack while keeping his momentum. A quick look back shows him that the slime is quickly burning through the cement like acid. "Aw, did that shadow seriously _throw up_ at us as an attack? Screw that!" Sutona comments, already coming at it from the side.

Kitsune flares to life behind him and leaps forward, spinning and smacking the pile of sludge with it's many tails. The shadow grunts in displeasure but doesn't seem overly affected. The assault does, however, draw it's attention to Sutona. Before it can make an attack, Kazuto has Benvolio smack it with Kouha. The bless attack hits harder than Sutona's-something that has Kazuto internally sagging with relief-and once again the blob's attention is on him. It growls and flexes-which is a weird motion for a pile of sludge-and one of the alcohol bottles adorning it's body shoots forward like a rocket.

Kazuto yelps and hops to the side, barely avoiding the projectile. In retaliation, he swings his spear at its body. His weapon embeds itself deep into the shadows flesh, but when Kazuto makes to pull it out he notices the spearhead has been completely melted away. "Oh shit… physical attacks aren't effective against this guy!" he hollars, jumping out of the way of another attack.

"That really stinks…" Sutona grounds out. He leaps up and over the shadow, summoning Kitsune as he does so and sending a gale of wind crashing into it's back. The force of the blow brings the shadow to it's non-existent knees, and Kazuto is quick to follow up with an attack from Benvolio. Much to everyone's dismay, their assault isn't as effective as they'd like, and the shadow is up again.

Sutona lands on the ground a second later only to be blasted away by one of shadows bottle attacks. "Sutona-kun! Iroh-san, can you heal him?" Kazuto cries desperately.

"I'm on it, but you'll have to keep the shadow busy by yourself!" Iroh tells him. Crap, he hadn't considered that. Still, he wasn't about to let his friend get injured. He swallowed whatever fear he might've had and leveled what was left of his spear at the shadow.

"Nekomata!" he called, using the cat-like Persona to burn his opponent. _That's one thing if my favor, at least. This shadows very slow._ That realization gives him an idea. He switches Persona's, calling on Benvolio's strength and uses a skill he'd initially thought useless. Sukukaja was an ability that raised one's speed and agility, and after using it Kazuto's body immediately feels five times lighter.

The shadow spews forth another stream of acid, but Kazuto is behind it before the putrid attack has even hit the ground. Benvolio smacks him with another bless attack before he can react, and the nasty looking syringe shot in retaliation is easily sidestepped by Kazuto. His newfound speed seems to anger the shadow, and it roars before spitting out more projectiles from its body. Kazuto flips and spins his way through the wall of attacks like he's a trained gymnast, occasionally batting away any projectiles that come too close for comfort. After a few seconds there's a break in the barrage, and Kazuto capitalizes on it by nailing the shadow with a bless attack.

Much to his confusion, however, the shadow has its back turned to him. For a second he thinks it might be gunning for Sutona, but his friend is to the right of him, struggling to stand up again. Then it hits him, and his eyes widen in horror.

_Oh no…_

"Chiyo-chan!" he cries, racing forward with inhuman speed. He pushes past the shadow just as it hucks another of its acid vomit attacks. And not three feet ahead was Chiyo, her eyes wide with shock as the promise of death sailed toward her.

_Not if I have anything to say about it!_

He crashed into her, pulling her tight against him while using his larger body to protect her from the attack. Of course, this did nothing to protect him from the mass of putrid smelling garbage. It crashed into his back like a bag of sand, bringing with it a pain so intense that no sound came out when Kazuto tried to scream. His knees buckled and his body slackened, likely an instinctive reaction from his body to cope with the pain. Even though his body has short-circuited his pain receptors, he can still distinctly feel his skin burning away as his limp body drags Chiyo to her knees.

She reaches out to steady him, recoils when her hand touches his exposed tissue and then tries to hold him against her by his lower back awkwardly. When all of this is finished, the world feels as if it's frozen still. Kazuto can no longer hear anything properly, but even if he could he's sure his friends would be too frozen in shock to say anything. He looks up at Chiyo's modified face, and knowns intimately that he is about to die. As he comes to accept this fact, he forces his jaw to work, and say the only thing he can think to pronounce in that moment.

"I'm glad we met…"

The world fades to black half a second later.

…

Chiyokanda Kami holds Kazuto's dying body closer to her, as if doing so will somehow save his life.

She's surprised by how little the realization that he is, indeed, dying affects her. Her heart feels like its about to explode out of her chest, and yet she can't muster up a single tear. Chiyo opens her mouth to scream, like the gesture will somehow make up for her lack of tears, but no sound comes forth. She thinks she hears someone scream Kazuto's name, but the sound barely reaches her ears.

The only reason she hasn't passed out or thrown up or some combination thereof is the faintest hint of Kazuto's breath against her neck. _Why… why did this happen? I wanted to help Kazuto-kun… it wasn't supposed to end like this! _

Dear god, history was repeating itself. She looks down to her singular hand, drenched in Kazuto's blood, and remembers something important. _I… am tainted. _And she was. She wasn't meant to help people like Kazuto and Sutona were. That was their destiny, but it was not hers. Foolishly, she'd tried to ignore that and fight against her own, as if the past hadn't happened.

But it wasn't that simple, she wasn't meant for that.

"**Are you so sure?"**

The voice cuts through the haze in her mind like a bullet, but when Chiyo looks to find who spoke, she doesn't find anything. Passively, she is aware of Kazuto's allies perpetual attempts to heal him, but any other thoughts are stolen away by the voice in her head.

"**You speak of destiny, yet you yourself have no way of determining it. Tell me, who was the one who decided your destiny? The world? Your friends? Or maybe… your parents?"**

The mention of her parents alone is enough to freeze Chiyo in place. Who decided her destiny…? What was it talking about about? Her destiny had been forged ever since… ever since she came to Misato.

...Right?

"**Don't make yourself blind to the details of the past. Remember! Remember who 'forged' your destiny, and the labels they dulled upon you."**

"...Yes. That's right," she mutters aloud, and her gaze once again falls to the half-dead man in her arms. When had Kazuto's destiny been chosen? Had he chosen it himself? In the end, she had no way of knowing without asking him directly. What she _did_ know… was who had chosen hers.

"_It's for the best, sweetheart. You'll be doing our family a great service."_

"_Will I get to see you often?"_

"_I'm afraid not. We can't afford to seen conversing with you after the… incident."_

"_O-okay. I understand."_

"_I'm glad you do. You'll do the Kami name proud when you finally grow into it."_

"**Good. Now that you've shaken these chains wrapped upon you; what will your destiny be?"**

In motions that don't belong to her, Chiyo removes her hand from Kazuto's back and crosses her heart. "It's not my place to say…" she grounds out, a tidal wave of heat suddenly exploding in her forehead. "I just know one thing… that I want to stay by this man's side! And help him however I can! So please…! Save him!" she cries, the tears that refused to fall earlier now dripping down her face.

"**Very well… I am thou, thou art I. Thou, who had previously been shackled by a false definition of destiny, shall henceforth strive toward true achievement!"**

"Come to me, Persephone!" Chiyo howls, and in a great azure explosion of light her Persona stands behind her. It's close to nine feet tall and draped in an elaborate, silken white dress. It's skin was a pitch black in color, but the brightly shining blonde hair contrasted with it nicely. In her one existing hand, she held a mask synonymous with classic Greek tragedies. Before her Persona can think to say anything, Chiyo speaks up. "Please… save him," she begs.

Persephone says nothing, but a faint green light washes over Kazuto. Just like that, the corrosive effect that had previously been burning him down to the bone vanishes, and his breath evens ever so slightly. "No way… I wasn't expecting Kami-san to get a Persona too," Sutona muttered, his usual lazy disposition forgotten.

"This is incredible…" the snake exhales, equally as awestruck.

"You, snake," Chiyo demands, snapping him out of his trance. "Please… keep Kazuto-kun alive. Nonkina-kun and I will deal with this shadow," she orders, resting Kazuto on his stomach and rising to a stand.

"Right. I won't let him fall here," the snake reassures, moving beside Kazuto. The weight on her heart starts to lift the slightest bit when she sees the faint green glow synonymous with healing wash over her friend.

"I'm all down to tear this thing apart for hurting Mono-chan, but how are you planning to fight as you are?" Sutona asks, looking at her from the corner of his eye.

"You should really keep your eyes forward," Chiyo notes dully as the shadow launches another one of it's bottle attacks. Sutona gasps, but long before the projectile hits him it's cut in two by the seven and a half foot scythe Chiyo is holding. She readies her newly conjured weapon at the shadow and narrows her eyes. "And don't underestimate me…"

The very act of summoning her Persona seems to have angered this shadow. It roars with rage and blasts a barrage of bottles and needles at the two of them. Chiyo isn't concerned in the slightest, and with grace someone possessing her disability really shouldn't have, she weaves her wave through the attacks. On occasion she'll lash out with her scythe, protecting herself-and occasionally Sutona-from the heavy hitting projectiles. A second later the shadows finally stops, and when Chiyo gets a good look at it she realizes it's out of ammo, the putrid bottles and needles that had previously adorned it's body now vanished.

"Okay… my turn," Chiyo intones, and Persephone finds a place behind her. "Eiha!" she cries, and her Persona shoots forth a blast of demonic energy. As soon as her attack makes contact the shadow folds like a house of cards, collapsing to it's non-existent stomach and wavering drunkenly. "Nonkina-kun, with me. We can finish it off," she declares.

"Don't have to tell me twice. Let's move," he exclaims, his lazy grin still ever present.

They leap into the air, letting loose with all of their most powerful attacks. The disturbing shadow can't hope to contend against their constant assault, and soon expires. "Tch. Not worth a second thought," Chiyo growls bitterly. Sutona and Iroh look ready to celebrate, but she isn't nearly as forgetful as the two of them.

Her icy glares crosses Vice a second before she speaks. "Oh wow, this isn't looking to good for me all of the sudden," she murmurs, catching the attention of Chiyo's allies.

"Are you planning to run?" she asks coldly, leveling her scythe at her.

Vice only laughs in return. "It isn't really running when I know you'll be coming back for me. Don't worry! I'll make sure to make my next shadow stronger, just for you!" she mocks cheerfully. A second later she's gone, leaving the four of them alone in an alleyway. As soon as she knows it's safe too, Chiyo collapses to her knees. She can feel all the strength drain out of her as it's replaced by a wave of exhaustion.

"Kami-san. Are you-"

"Don't bother with me," she growls, cutting Sutona off. "Kazuto-kun… how is he?" she asks shakily, already fearing the most.

"If you're so worried, you can always ask me yourself."

Chiyo's heart stops, and a tear falls down her eye completely unbidden. When she turns around, she finds herself once again able to breathe when she sees Kazuto again. He's _alive_. More than a little worse for wear-and now missing a shirt because of that acid attack-but alive, and breathing.

"Kazuto-kun!"

"Mono-chan!"

She isn't sure which of them crashes into Kazuto first, but the combined weight of her and Sutona is enough to knock him on his back. "Ow ow ow! That's a little too much right now, guys!" Kazuto exclaims. Almost as quickly as they mobbed him they leap back, though Chiyo finds herself completely unable to stand.

"Kazuto-kun! I-I can't believe it. Are you alright?" Chiyo blurts, unable to think of anything else.

"As well as anyone coming back from the brink of death can be, I suppose," he informs them while patting his chest. What's left of his shirt has been tied around his torso as a makeshift bandage. She'd be lying if she said that didn't worry her, but she was so elliated by his presence that she can't focus on anything else.

"Yeah, and taking the whole thing _remarkably _well. Are you sure you're alright dude?" Sutona asks, worry seeping into his tone. That one question brings Chiyo crashing back down to reality. Kazuto had nearly _died_. The dried blood on her fingers was more than enough evidence of that. If she hadn't awakened her Persona when she did…

The thought alone makes her shudder.

"I-I am so, tremendously sorry, Kazuto-kun. I-if it hadn't been for my w-weakness then-"

"Don't blame yourself, Chiyo-chan," Kazuto interrupts, speaking softly. "It's my fault you're here in the first place. I shouldn't have made you worry like I did," he chuckled lightly. "If I'd protected you like I said I was supposed too… then, well…"

"Both of you need not blame yourselves," Iroh suddenly spoke up, dragging everyone's eyes to him. "It was reckless of me to attack Vice's fortress on my own. I should've waited for Kazuto-san and Sutona-san's assistance like always. I… I pray that you can all forgive me," he explained, bowing as much as a snake was capable of it. Silence permitted throughout the alley for a few seconds. Chiyo thought about speaking up, but she didn't think anything she said could really assuage everyone.

Oddly enough, it was Sutona who broke the silence.

"Alright, enough!" he cried indignantly, like a typical teenager complaining about something stupid. "I'm sure we all have a laundry list of things we think we could've done better, but what's sitting around her doing for us? This whole day was shitty, but let's not throw a pity party about it. Those totally kill my high…" he ranted, that oh-so-typical lazy drawl adorning his words.

...Nobody really had anything to say to that.

Eventually though, Kazuto laughed. "You're right, Sutona-kun. We'll learn from what went wrong today. In the meantime…" Kazuto leads off, slowly drawing to a stand with Sutona's assistance. "...How does getting back to the real world sound?" He asks, offering her his hand. Chiyo looks at it, and the man offering it to her. This was Kazuto Okubyomono, a teen with an adults wisdom and an almost child-like idea of kindness…

She took his hand, and smiled. "I would like that very much."

**A.N: God damn… this is honestly one of the best things I've ever written. At least, that's how I feel, I hope you feel the same way. Just for those who are curious. All the main characters Arcana are looking like this. Kazuto=fool, Sutona=hanged-man, Iroh=magician, and now we have Chiyo=death. I know it seems a bit weird to have one of our party members have the death arcana considering the Persona main character usually have Arcana's in the lower range of the tarot, but I feel it best suits her character. Aside from that PLEASE FOR THE LOVE OF GOD LEAVE A REVIEW, or favorite, or follow or **_**something**_**. I just wanna know that **_**one person**_ **is actually enjoying this thing, is that too much to ask…? **


	8. One Step At A Time

**Persona 6 Original Flavour Chapter 8: One Step at a Time**

It's surprisingly easy to catch Chiyo up to speed on Purgatory.

Kazuto and Iroh still have to take the time to explain some of the bigger concepts, but she catches on way quicker than Kazuto was expecting. Then again, she'd always seemed really smart, and Kazuto didn't know too much about her. Which is why it surprises him when Sutona says, "-but man, I still find it weird someone with as much bank as you goes to our school."

"Hm? What do you mean?"

"Ah, I suppose I haven't told you. My family is actually rather wealthy. My parents are entrepreneurs that amassed quite a sum of wealth over their life," she informs him.

"...huh. The more you know," he says lamely, not really sure how to respond to that. For a moment he thinks to ask why she'd be going to Nayamu high if she came from money, but it's not really his business. He takes a sip of his soda to fill the awkward silence that's been left after his comment. The four of them were sitting in the outdoor area of a mostly abandoned cafe Sutona had dragged them too after leaving Purgatory.

Chiyo shakes her head before looking at him intently. "If I may be blunt, I want to join you and Sutona-kun. Now that I've awakened to my Persona I can help the tw-three of you defeat Vice," she adds after seeing Iroh's rather indignant glare.

And that was another thing; with Purgatory being as heated as if was now, Iroh had hopped to the real world with the three of them. Moving past the utter surrealism that came from talking with a snake in this world, Kazuto had absolutely no idea what to do with him.

"I don't see any reason why you can't," Sutona commented, dragging Kazuto out of his head.

"Agreed. She'll make a valuable asset to the team," Iroh added, a pleased smile on his face.

Kazuto, however, is more hesitant to reply. He knows it's silly, but there's still some part of him that vehemently disagrees with the idea of letting her on the team. Was it her missing arm? He'd have liked to think so but he was unconscious during the latter part of their last fight and according to Sutona she'd been the reason they won in the end. If her ability wasn't in question though, then what was it? _I told her I'd protect her and everyone else I care about, but wouldn't that be easier if I had her right in front of me?_

He'd tried twice now to assuage his friends worries and do things on his own, and both times he'd nearly died for it. _I guess it's time to stop being so stubborn and accept some help. _"That's fine with me too. It's nice to know you're with us." Kazuto tries his best to ignore how relieved Chiyo looks and smiles.

Of course, that's when Iroh pipes in saying, "We've only just begun and already we have four Persona-users on our side. Things are looking well for us."

_And now I'm back to this…_ Kazuto thinks dejectedly. "Now that everything's settled. I think we need to talk about what we're going to do about Iroh-san."

"Hm? What do you mean?" the snake asks cluelessly.

"Uh, dude, don't you remember? We already told you before we can't have pets in the school dorms," Sutona tells him, taking a hit of his joint. Kazuto's initial alarm at Sutona's habit of smoking in public was quickly quenched when he noted just how deserted the area was. He imagined this was probably a frequent haunt of Sutona and his friends.

"Chiyo-chan…?" he turns to her, lost.

"I'm sorry, but I can't house him either. My parents may not be personally watching over me, but the housekeepers are more than happy to carry out their 'no pets' rule."

Kazuto sighs. "Of all the things…"

"Perhaps it's not my place to say, but I don't really see what the complication is. It's not as though I'll be following you to Nayamu, and should someone enter the room I'm fast enough to remove myself from sight before they could react."

"Sure, put like that it sounds easy," Sutona chimed in, his lopsided grin present even when complaining. "But it's not as simple as leaving you in the dorm. You still need to eat, and people would start to get pretty damn suspicious if we keep bringing dead crickets and mice with us to our rooms."

"Sutona's right. I'm sorry, Iroh-san, but I just really don't know-"

"You are aware I don't need to eat, right?" Iroh points out, as if it's the most obvious thing in the world.

They all stare at him, intently. "Um, no…?" Sutona supplies, forcing his jaw to work.

"I don't get why you're so surprised. Kazuto-san, Sutona-san; you specifically have seen Purgatory in detail. Does it seem like the type of place one could easily find sustenance?" he asks.

"Well… you have a point there. Wait, does that mean you don't need water either? Or to, uh… relieve yourself?" he asks awkwardly, cringing with embarrassment.

"No, I'm mostly self-sufficient. The only thing I do require is sleep, oddly enough."

"Man, you keep getting freakier and freakier the more I learn about you. I could've lived without the knowledge that you've never had to use the can before, thanks," Sutona complained, taking another hit of his joint. Kazuto couldn't help but agree, and he was the one who'd asked!

"Still, with all of this in mind, I don't think it'd be nearly as difficult for you to keep him in your room. Don't you think so, Kazuto-kun?" Chiyo questions.

Kazuto rubs his chin in thought for a moment. "It's still a risk… but we need Iroh-san, and it's not like we can have him go back to Purgatory with how dangerous that place has gotten," he reasons.

"Alright then. I guess that means everything's settled," Sutona calls, clapping his hands together and standing up. "When were you thinking of hitting Purgatory again, Mono-chan?" he asks, turning to Kazuto.

"That-ngh!" he groans, doubling over in pain when his core suddenly flares up.

"Kazuto-kun!"

"Kazuto-san!" Chiyo and Iroh call out at the same time. She's quick to be at his side, helping him the rest of the way up as the pain slowly dies down.

"Shit, man, are you okay? That shadow hit you really hard…" Sutona says dejected, as if mentioning his near death will somehow hurt him.

"I'm fine…" he grounds out. "Iroh-san already healed me up, after all," he continues evenly, the flare in his chest completely fading away.

"I may have closed the wound and stopped the bleeding, but a wound that severe… well, I wouldn't be surprised if the effects persist a little longer," Iroh informs them.

"Yeah, but-"

"Kazuto-kun," Chiyo interrupts, drawing Kazuto's attention to her. "What happened back there… please, just, don't feel as if you can't tell us something's wrong. I don't want to see you hurt like that again…"

Oh wow, and now he felt like a bastard. His friends were all just worried about him, and here he was, tossing that aside like their feelings meant nothing. And really, wasn't it odd? He'd been knocking at death's door not thirty minutes ago, and now the most emotion he could muster at that experience was his surprise over Chiyo's awakening.

He shook his head and looked back to his friends. "It's really not so bad. I just get a little sore whenever I move my core too fast. I'm sorry if I made you guys concerned…"

Sutona sighed comically, his ever present lazy grin returning to his fast. "Geez, you've made me into such a worry-wart, Mono-chan. I thought I was the easy-goin' guy, but here you are making me get all uppity over some aches and pains," he teased.

Kazuto chuckled, partly hoping to lift the heavy atmosphere that now hung over the three of them. "I'm sorry about that… and that's for looking out for me, Chiyo-chan," he said honestly, placing his hand over her only existing one. He would've been lying if he said the idea of taking a one-armed woman into battle didn't seem strange to him, but he was a pacifist for crying out loud, so who was he to talk.

"And now we've gotta figure out how we're gonna get Iroh-chan into the boys dorm without anyone noticing," Sutona complained, instantly dampening whatever positive mood Kazuto had.

…

In the end, they snuck him inside of Kazuto's bag.

"So this is your room? It's rather nice looking," Iroh commented almost immediately after slithering out of his temporary confines.

"Well I haven't really had it that long, and with Purgatory and drama club I don't have the time to make it messy," he joked, throwing off his blazer and shirt.

"W-what are you doing?" Iroh abruptly asks as Kazuto starts unbuttoning his pants.

"Changing, obviously. It's like I sleep in my school uniform."

"Yes, but… I'm still in the room…" Iroh leads off uncomfortably. This is a surprise; Kazuto can't remember ever seeing the snake flustered like this.

"Well, yeah, but that shouldn't be a problem…" A thought crosses him. "Wait! You are a girl?!"

"I'm male, thank you very much!" Iroh huffs indignantly.

"Then what's your damage…?" Kazuto groans, already making to put on his sleep shirt. Iroh grumbles something unpleasant under his breath but doesn't otherwise comment, and Kazuto is quick to finish changing and flop into bed. He's dog tired after everything today.

"You mentioned being in your school's drama club, correct?" Iroh asks suddenly, his usual disposition returned.

"Yeah. I work really hard with Namba-chan," he mumbles out in between yawns. He's surprised he hasn't straight up passed out yet.

"Namba-chan? Who's that?"

Kazuto yawns again. "Cute girl one year my junior. She's the President of the club…"

"She's cute, now?" Iroh comments, an almost teasing lilt to his voice.

All of the sudden Kazuto finds himself wide awake. He doesn't like the snakes tone. "That's, uh…"

"And with how all over each other you and Chiyo-san are, I was thinking she'd been the one to capture your heart."

Kazuto frowns and rolls over, facing away from Iroh. "I am _so_ not having this conversation with you," he grumbles, more bitter than he'd expected.

"Why not? Is there something you'd rather not have me hear?" the snake teases.

He turns back and sits up fully, ignoring the brief pain in his back. "You know, this is a lot different than how you act in Purgatory, Iroh-san," Kazuto observes.

His friend seems taken aback by this, as if only just realizing it himself. "Perhaps you're right… I've never been to this world-_your world_-before, even though I think about it all the time."

Kazuto meets Iroh's eyes, now giving him his full attention. "I didn't know it was like that… now I feel kind of guilty having to keep you cooped up here."

Iroh shakes his head. "You needn't worry yourself, Kazuto-san. Our exploration of Purgatory is more important… but, it _is _interesting."

"What is?"

"I was born from humanity's hope and virtue, yet the only humans I've ever interacted with are you and yours…"

Silence pervades over them for a few seconds. Kazuto thinks on his friends words for a while. He can't help but wonder just how long Iroh was alone in Purgatory before he stumbled in. It couldn't have been easy… the thought reminded him of his time in the orphanage, back when he'd been so caught up in his own grief he could barely bring himself out of bed. Except thinking about it some more it was probably worse for Iroh.

He meets his friends eyes again, and speaks. "Don't worry. Chiyo-chan, Sutona-kun and I we'll look after you now," he reassures, flashing Iroh the same warm smile he'd given Chiyo and Namba in the past.

Iroh returns his gaze, mouth slightly ajar, before he smiles and a slight chuckle escapes his lips. "I would very much like that, Kazuto-san."

…

Namba storms off, trying to leave Kazuto behind her.

But of course, he steps forward and takes her arm, refusing to let her walk away. "I'm not an empty seat anymore!" he cries, his face school into one of stoic seriousness. After a moment, however, it softens. "I'm different… Punch me, I bleed…" he says hoarsely. And for a moment, the raw emotion in her voice almost her reconsider.

But she can't deal with this again.

"I have to go," she states firmly, shaking his grip and walking off. She turns back to face him, but only to say "I'm getting married in a church." That statement alone seems to drain all emotion from his face. "...You are different," she adds, after a second. And Kazuto…

...Kazuto's face is _not _schooled into an expression of utter loss, like it's suppose to be.

Instead, he's grimacing and rubbing his back like an eighty year old man. "...Are you sure you're okay, Kazuto-senpai? That's the third time you've dropped character in this scene alone," she asks, ironically breaking character herself to do so.

Kazuto grunts and forces a smile. "I know, I know, sorry. I'm not trying to drag you down or anything, I promise."

Namba frowns. "Kazuto-senpai, we've been practicing scenes non-stop for an hour and a half, I think we can afford to let ourselves take a break…" She trails off, looking at the other members of the club who are either on their phones, gossiping or otherwise not even paying attention to them. "...Especially with how every else is acting,"

Kazuto follows her gaze, before frowning. "Maybe we're going about this the wrong way…" he mutters.

"Hm?"

"Sorry, I was just thinking. What if we're trying to do this the wrong way?" he asks.

Namba crosses her arms and closes her eyes, humming in thought. "You're probably right, but what other way is there? We can't exactly get them interested in theater club by _not_ being a theater club."

Kazuto chuckles sheepishly and steps closer. "You have a point. I just think it's worth putting some thought into," he tells her.

Namba opens her eyes and nobs. "I will, but we're getting off topic."

"I guess we are. I'm fine though, I promise!" His cheery demeanor dies under her heavy glare. "Eh-he… maybe we should just take a small break," he offers instead, and Namba nods, satisfied. She isn't just doing this to be a bother, Kazuto seems like he's pretty frail and she wouldn't want him to hurt himself by pushing it. Namba makes down the sides steps and motions for him to follow. He does so reluctantly, but about halfway down he suddenly stumbles and clutches his side in pain.

"Kazuto-senpai!" she cries, at his side in a second.

"I'm fine… I'm fine…" he tells her.

"Um, no. Clearly you're not. C'mon, let's sit you down over here…" After a short walk, she helps him into one of the chairs. Kazuto breathes a sigh of relief and relaxes, his expression noticeably less strained. The whole debacle leaves Namba feeling equal parts worried and angry. "Alright, enough games, Kazuto-senpai. You're clearly not feeling well, so what's wrong?"

Kazuto exhales through his nose before looking into her eyes. She isn't sure what he's looking for, but he whatever it is he finds it and sighs deeply. "Okay… so I _may_ have gotten a little busted up," he explains.

"How?"

"Uh… I went on a bike ride with Sutona-kun and, um, this car came out of nowhere and hit me. It was pretty crazy…"

Yeah, no. That was obviously some bullshit. Namba snorts angrily and grabs Kazuto's hand, dragging him bodily to toward the prop closest. "Wh-hey! What are you doing?" he asks, alarmed.

"You keep insisting that you're fine, so this shouldn't be so bad, right?"

"O-oh, um, yeah. I guess you're right," he mutters dejectedly. She shoves him into the prop closet and closes the door behind her. The lights are already on, so she doesn't have to bother with them at all. Now that it was just the two of them, Namba turns the full force of her growing frustration on her friend.

"Take off your shirt," she demands.

"Ummmmmmm…"

Right, that sounded pretty bad. Namba forces herself to calm down and think rationally. She gently rests her hand on his chest, and even that is enough to make him grimace. "You're obviously really hurt. I mean, you nearly collapsed on your way down the stairs earlier. If you were trying to stop me from worrying, you failed, so can you at least show me? I just… wanna know why you're in so much pain," she explains, hoping her concern would reach him.

Judging by the strained expression on his face, she did. "Yeah, I really do seem to suck at that huh?" he says, mostly to himself. This is doubly concerning to her. _Who else must he have worrying about him? His parents… aren't around anymore, from what I understand._ She's taken from her thoughts when Kazuto starts undressing. Without the heavy school blazer on, she realizes just how skinny he is.

Her breath catches, when he takes off his shirt. Heavy bandages are wrapped around his waist and chest, and she can see sickly, yellow bruises peeking from around his ribs. When she trails around his back she sees why. Covering the entirety of his upper and lower back is a grotesque, swelling bruise that looks as if he'd received it just a few seconds ago. "You really had to have been hit by a car to recieve something this nasty…" she mumbles.

"Yeah, it was pretty bad. I lost consciousness for a little bit," he explains stiffly. Namba can believe it, with how bad the wound looks. She isn't stupid enough to try and poke it, but she'd be lying if she said the idea hadn't cross her mind. "Uh, isn't this a little awkward for you?" Kazuto suddenly asks.

"Hm? What do you mean?" Namba asks back, coming around to meet his eyes.

"Well, I mean. It's just the two of us, alone in a closet… with my shirt off," he points out, leading off uncomfortably.

Namba blinks. Oh yeah, it makes sense he would think that. "Oh, um, not really. I guess you could say… my preferences lean toward the opposite end of the spectrum," she finishes lamely.

"Hm? Oh! I'm sorry; I didn't know you were a lesbian," Kazuto apoligizes.

"It's not exactly something I advertise…" Namba grumbled, cringing. She shakes her head. "Anyway, that's not the point! You should be resting with a wound that bad. I don't know why you thought coming today was a good idea," she scolds.

"If I didn't come, how would I help you inspire the others?" Kazuto says simply, putting his shirt back on.

Namba sighs at his words and smiles. "You really are too nice for your own good."

"Really? I was going to say the same about you?"

She tilts her head confused. "What are you talking about?"

Kazuto smiles that smile of his that makes her feel all warm inside, and then says, "We haven't known each other long at all, but you still cared enough about me to take notice of my injury."

That only makes her more confused. "I don't get why that's so amazing."

Kazuto eyes leave hers, and he suddenly gets this far off look. "Maybe it's not, but I haven't seen stuff like that in a while, so I thought it was pretty cool," he tells her.

Now she laughs. "Only you would say being a nice person is 'pretty cool', Kazuto-senpai." They share a laugh, and when everything dies down Kazuto is smiling again. "But you're right, I _do_ tend to try and look out for people. Maybe more than I should."

"Why do you think that is?" Kazuto asks, sounding genuinely curious.

Namba thinks for a moment before answering. "It's probably my parents…" she decides. "This is a little personal, so I'm trusting you not to tell anyone, okay?"

Kazuto doesn't laugh off or dismiss her concern. She knows she can be hard to take seriously with her cheery disposition and high pitched voice, so she's glad Kazuto can. "I wouldn't do that to you, or anyone else."

After a moment, Namba nods. "When I realized I was, well… like I am I was pretty scared. A lot of my friends thought it was too weird and started avoiding me, and I thought mom and dad would be the same. But when I finally worked up the courage to tell them, they told me that it didn't matter who or what I liked, they would still love me…" Her heart swells the same way it does every time she remembers that, and she can't keep from smiling brightly.

When she looks at Kazuto, his smile mirrors hers. "They sound like really great parents," he tells her earnestly, an almost nostalgic lilt to his voice.

"They really are…" she mumbles to herself, and makes a note to give them a hug when she gets home. "Alright, enough about that. As president of the drama club, I'm ordering you to take the rest of the day off for recovery!" she declares.

Kazuto laughs easily and shakes his head. "Yes ma'am, I'll be going," he assures before opening the door for her. They leave the prop closet and Kazuto makes his way out of the drama room leaving Namba with the rest of the club. She frowns at the lot of them lazing about. _Kazuto's right about that much, they aren't really getting motivated by practices…_ Still, she won't make any progress by just doing nothing. Namba reaches over to grab the leftover scripts, moving to practice them herself in the center of the state. She'll work on them… and she really does think it'll happen eventually.

She'll keep at it… one step at a time.

**A.N: I know I'm trying to keep this as plausible as possible, but I thought Namba's sexuality would help set her apart from the rest of the genki-girl type Persona characters. Atlus themselves wouldn't let this shit fly because then they'd be down one waifu, but the fun of fanfiction is the personalization, right?**


End file.
